fix(dcode): enforce empty prompt exit contract

agents/langchain-deepagents-code/Dockerfile

@@ -74,13 +74,20 @@ RUN case "$NEMOCLAW_TOOL_DISCLOSURE" in \
 
 # The launcher and startup script read these root-owned files instead of
 # trusting process-level environment overrides for inference routing. Invoking
-# each launcher validates the build args before the image can complete.
+# each launcher validates the build args before the image can complete. The
+# empty-prompt probe also exercises the installed launcher -> wrapper chain so a
+# stale or misassembled image cannot silently lose the public exit-code contract.
 RUN install -d -m 0755 /usr/local/share/nemoclaw \
     && printf '%s\n' "$NEMOCLAW_PROXY_HOST" > /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-host \
     && printf '%s\n' "$NEMOCLAW_PROXY_PORT" > /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-port \
     && printf '%s\n' "$NEMOCLAW_INFERENCE_BASE_URL" > /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-inference-base-url \
     && chown root:root /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-host /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-port /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-inference-base-url \
     && chmod 0444 /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-host /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-proxy-port /usr/local/share/nemoclaw/dcode-inference-base-url \
+    && empty_prompt_log="$(mktemp)" \
+    && if timeout 10 /usr/local/bin/dcode -n "" >"$empty_prompt_log" 2>&1; then empty_prompt_status=0; else empty_prompt_status=$?; fi \
+    && test "$empty_prompt_status" -eq 2 \
+    && test "$(cat "$empty_prompt_log")" = "NemoClaw: empty non-interactive prompt for -n; provide prompt text." \
+    && rm -f "$empty_prompt_log" \
     && /usr/local/bin/dcode --version \
     && /usr/local/bin/dcode.real --version \
     && /usr/local/bin/deepagents-code --version

agents/langchain-deepagents-code/manifest.yaml

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ runtime:
   smoke_commands:
     - "dcode --version"
     - "test -s /sandbox/.deepagents/config.toml && echo NEMOCLAW_DEEPAGENTS_CONFIG_OK"
+    - 'empty_prompt=; output="$(timeout 10 dcode -n "$empty_prompt" 2>&1)"; status=$?; [ "$status" -eq 2 ] && [ "$output" = "NemoClaw: empty non-interactive prompt for -n; provide prompt text." ] && echo NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK'
 
 # ── Configuration ───────────────────────────────────────────────
 config:

src/lib/agent/defs.test.ts

@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ describe("agent definitions", () => {
       smoke_commands: [
         "dcode --version",
         "test -s /sandbox/.deepagents/config.toml && echo NEMOCLAW_DEEPAGENTS_CONFIG_OK",
+        'empty_prompt=; output="$(timeout 10 dcode -n "$empty_prompt" 2>&1)"; status=$?; [ "$status" -eq 2 ] && [ "$output" = "NemoClaw: empty non-interactive prompt for -n; provide prompt text." ] && echo NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK',
       ],
     });
     expect(deepAgentsCode.binary_path).toBe("/usr/local/bin/dcode");

src/lib/agent/onboard-terminal-fixtures.ts

@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ function recordDeepAgentsRuntimeCall(
   if (command.includes("dcode --version")) {
     return `dcode ${smokeVersion}\nNEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0`;
   }
+  if (command.includes("NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK")) {
+    return "NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK\nNEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0";
+  }
   if (command.includes("/sandbox/.deepagents/config.toml")) {
     return "NEMOCLAW_DEEPAGENTS_CONFIG_OK\nNEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0";
   }

test/cli/connect-terminal-agent.test.ts

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ describe("CLI dispatch for terminal agents", () => {
         '  case "$cmd" in',
         '    *"dcode --version"*) echo "dcode 0.1.34"; echo "NEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0"; exit 0 ;;',
         '    *"config.toml"*) echo "NEMOCLAW_DEEPAGENTS_CONFIG_OK"; echo "NEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0"; exit 0 ;;',
+        '    *"NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK"*) echo "NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK"; echo "NEMOCLAW_AGENT_SMOKE_EXIT:0"; exit 0 ;;',
         "  esac",
         "fi",
         "exit 0",
@@ -62,6 +63,12 @@ describe("CLI dispatch for terminal agents", () => {
         call.includes("nemoclaw-agent-smoke test -s /sandbox/.deepagents/config.toml"),
       ),
     ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      calls.some(
+        (call) =>
+          call.includes("nemoclaw-agent-smoke") && call.includes("NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_PROMPT_OK"),
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
     expect(calls.some((call) => call.includes("OPENCLAW="))).toBe(false);
     expect(calls.some((call) => call.includes("curl -so"))).toBe(false);
   });

test/e2e/e2e-cloud-experimental/checks/07-deepagents-code-headless-inference.sh

@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@
 # Headless `dcode -n "<prompt>"`, run inside a built Deep Agents Code sandbox,
 # must route through the managed https://inference.local/v1 endpoint using the
 # placeholder OpenAI-compatible key NemoClaw writes into config.toml. The login
-# shell path must return PONG with exit 0; provider, connection, DNS, timeout, and
-# ambiguous failures are not acceptable. No real provider/proxy credentials may
-# appear in config.toml, .env, .mcp.json, /tmp/nemoclaw-proxy-env.sh, or output.
+# shell path must reject an empty prompt with exit 2, then return PONG with exit
+# 0 for a real prompt; provider, connection, DNS, timeout, and ambiguous failures
+# are not acceptable. No real provider/proxy credentials may appear in
+# config.toml, .env, .mcp.json, /tmp/nemoclaw-proxy-env.sh, or output.
 # Direct DNS/hosts resolution is intentionally not required: OpenShell's managed
 # proxy routes inference.local when the request follows the normalized path.
 # Keep these phases in one ordered acceptance check: the absent-DNS observation
@@ -126,6 +127,10 @@ is_actionable_inference_error() {
   grep -Eiq 'API key|authentication|authorization|unauthorized|forbidden|rate[ -]?limit|quota|HTTP[[:space:]]*(401|403|404|429|5[0-9]{2})|status[[:space:]]*(401|403|404|429|5[0-9]{2})|(inference\.local|provider|model|NVIDIA|OpenAI).*(error|failed|failure|invalid|unavailable)|(error|failed|failure|invalid|unavailable).*(inference\.local|provider|model|NVIDIA|OpenAI)'
 }
 
+is_empty_prompt_rejection() {
+  grep -Fxq 'NemoClaw: empty non-interactive prompt for -n; provide prompt text.'
+}
+
 # Route reachability is proved separately with /v1/models. This classifier has
 # the stronger #6191 acceptance contract: dcode itself must be usable and return
 # exit-zero PONG, so authentication, quota, provider, and model errors are
@@ -201,6 +206,27 @@ main() {
     fail_test "managed dcode wrapper chain is missing or incomplete"
   fi
 
+  # The status expansion belongs to the remote login shell.
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2016
+  empty_login_output="$(sandbox_login_exec 'timeout 10 dcode -n ""; status=$?; printf "\nNEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_EXIT:%s\n" "$status"' || true)"
+  empty_login_exit="$(printf '%s' "$empty_login_output" | sed -n 's/.*NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_EXIT:\([0-9]\+\).*/\1/p' | tail -n1)"
+  if [ "$empty_login_exit" = "2" ] && printf '%s\n' "$empty_login_output" | is_empty_prompt_rejection; then
+    pass "login-shell dcode rejects an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2"
+  else
+    fail_test "login-shell dcode did not reject an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2 (exit ${empty_login_exit:-unknown})"
+  fi
+
+  if empty_direct_output="$(sandbox_direct_dcode -n "")"; then
+    empty_direct_exit=0
+  else
+    empty_direct_exit=$?
+  fi
+  if [ "$empty_direct_exit" = "2" ] && printf '%s\n' "$empty_direct_output" | is_empty_prompt_rejection; then
+    pass "direct-exec dcode rejects an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2"
+  else
+    fail_test "direct-exec dcode did not reject an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2 (exit ${empty_direct_exit})"
+  fi
+
   # 1. config.toml points at the managed inference route, not a real provider host.
   config_output="$(sandbox_exec "cat /sandbox/.deepagents/config.toml 2>/dev/null" || true)"
   if printf '%s' "$config_output" | references_managed_inference_route; then
@@ -289,6 +315,8 @@ DCODE_EXIT:${direct_exit}"
   leak_scan="$(sandbox_exec "$(sandbox_artifact_scan_command)" || true)"
   combined="${config_output}
 ${leak_scan}
+${empty_login_output}
+${empty_direct_output}
 ${dns_hosts_output}
 ${proxy_contract_output}
 ${route_output}

test/langchain-deepagents-code-image.test.ts

@@ -702,6 +702,9 @@ describe("LangChain Deep Agents Code image contracts", () => {
       '-- dcode "$@"',
       "sandbox_dcode_wrapper_contract",
       "NEMOCLAW_DCODE_WRAPPER_CHAIN_OK",
+      "NEMOCLAW_DCODE_EMPTY_EXIT",
+      "login-shell dcode rejects an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2",
+      "direct-exec dcode rejects an empty non-interactive prompt with exit 2",
       "nemoclaw_connect_probe",
       "${NEMOCLAW_CLI_BIN:-${REPO:-.}/bin/nemoclaw.js}",
       "connect --probe-only 2>&1",

test/langchain-deepagents-code-proxy-launcher.test.ts

@@ -134,6 +134,34 @@ function shellValidatorAccepts(source: string, name: string, value: string): boo
 }
 
 describe("Deep Agents Code direct-exec proxy launcher", () => {
+  it("preserves the empty-prompt failure through the installed launcher chain (#6440)", () => {
+    const tempDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-dcode-empty-prompt-"));
+    try {
+      const launcherPath = path.join(tempDir, "dcode-launcher.sh");
+      const wrapperPath = path.join(tempDir, "dcode-wrapper.sh");
+      const launcher = replaceManagedProxyFileConstants(
+        readAgentFile("dcode-launcher.sh").replace(
+          'readonly MANAGED_DCODE_WRAPPER="/usr/local/lib/nemoclaw/dcode-wrapper.sh"',
+          `readonly MANAGED_DCODE_WRAPPER="${wrapperPath}"`,
+        ),
+        tempDir,
+      );
+      fs.writeFileSync(launcherPath, launcher, { mode: 0o755 });
+      fs.writeFileSync(wrapperPath, readAgentFile("dcode-wrapper.sh"), { mode: 0o755 });
+      writeManagedProxyFiles(tempDir, DEFAULT_MANAGED_PROXY);
+
+      const result = runLauncher(launcherPath, ["-n", ""], {});
+
+      expect(result.status).toBe(2);
+      expect(result.stdout).toBe("");
+      expect(result.stderr).toBe(
+        "NemoClaw: empty non-interactive prompt for -n; provide prompt text.\n",
+      );
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   it("ignores hostile PATH and BASH_ENV before launcher and entrypoint normalization", () => {
     const tempDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "nemoclaw-dcode-shell-entry-"));
     const launcherPath = makeLauncherProxyProbeFixture(tempDir);