fix(cli): handle top-level command failures

bin/nemoclaw.js

@@ -9,4 +9,10 @@ if (invokedAs === "nemo-deepagents") {
   process.env.NEMOCLAW_INVOKED_AS = "nemo-deepagents";
 }
 
-require("../dist/nemoclaw");
+const { log } = require("../dist/lib/cli/logger");
+const { mainPromise } = require("../dist/nemoclaw");
+mainPromise.catch((error) => {
+  const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+  log.error(`Error: ${message}`);
+  process.exitCode = 1;
+});

test/package-contract/cli/top-level-error.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+const REPO_ROOT = path.join(import.meta.dirname, "../../..");
+const cliPath = JSON.stringify(path.join(REPO_ROOT, "bin", "nemoclaw.js"));
+const dispatchPath = JSON.stringify(
+  path.join(REPO_ROOT, "dist", "lib", "cli", "public-dispatch.js"),
+);
+
+describe("compiled CLI top-level errors", () => {
+  it("prints one error line without an uncaught Node.js stack (#8202)", () => {
+    const result = spawnSync(
+      process.execPath,
+      [
+        "--eval",
+        `const path = ${dispatchPath};
+require.cache[path] = {
+  loaded: true,
+  exports: { dispatchCli: () => Promise.reject(new Error("Command failed.")) },
+};
+require(${cliPath});`,
+      ],
+      {
+        cwd: REPO_ROOT,
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+        env: { ...process.env, NEMOCLAW_DISABLE_AUTO_DISPATCH: "0" },
+      },
+    );
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.stdout).toBe("");
+    expect(result.stderr).toBe("Error: Command failed.\n");
+    expect(result.stderr).not.toMatch(/\n\s+at |Node\.js v/);
+  });
+});