QwenLM · now-ing · Sep 6, 2026
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli.test.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,78 @@ describe('resolveBootstrapRoute', () => {
     expect(resolveBootstrapRoute(['mcp', '--help'])).toBe('mcp');
   });
 
+  it('does not let the answer payload trigger a bootstrap intercept', () => {
+    // The free-text tail of `sessions answer <session>` must not reach the
+    // interceptors as flag tokens: each of these printed help/version and
+    // exited 0, telling the driving script the answer was delivered when
+    // it was not (issue #11193). The separator fences the payload off, so
+    // the argv routes to the full parser instead.
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'please',
+        '--help',
+        'me',
+      ]),
+    ).toBe('default');
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'yes',
+        'please',
+        'help',
+      ]),
+    ).toBe('default');
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'please',
+        '--version',
+        'now',
+      ]),
+    ).toBe('default');
+    // A user-supplied separator already fenced the payload; the route must
+    // not change (and the separator must not be doubled).
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        '--',
+        'please',
+        '--version',
+        'now',
+      ]),
+    ).toBe('default');
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the intercepts for every other command and shape', () => {
+    // The fence is scoped to the answer payload: version tokens elsewhere
+    // keep the fail-closed intercept (issue #11193's guardrail — demoting
+    // those executes subcommands).
+    expect(resolveBootstrapRoute(['sessions', 'list', '-v'])).toBe('version');
+    expect(resolveBootstrapRoute(['sessions', 'ps', '--version'])).toBe(
+      'version',
+    );
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute(['mcp', 'remove', 'victim', '-v', 'help']),
+    ).toBe('version');
+    // `qwen sessions answer --help` (no id) and a bare `--help` payload
+    // keep routing to the parser, which shows the command's help.
+    expect(resolveBootstrapRoute(['sessions', 'answer', '--help'])).toBe(
+      'default',
+    );
+    expect(
+      resolveBootstrapRoute(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '--help']),
+    ).toBe('default');
+  });
+
   it('keeps bundled entrypoint paths out of the route detection', async () => {
     expect(resolveBootstrapRoute(['/repo/dist/cli.js', '--help'])).toBe('help');
     expect(

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import {
 } from './config/top-level-options.js';
 import { clearInheritedPeerMessagingEnv } from './peerMessaging/env.js';
 import { normalizeServeFastPathArgv } from './utils/serve-fast-path-argv.js';
+import { insertSessionAnswerSeparator } from './utils/session-answer-argv.js';
 import { initStartupProfiler } from './utils/startupProfiler.js';
 import { initCpuProfiler } from './utils/cpuProfiler.js';
 import {
@@ -322,7 +323,16 @@ function normalizeMcpFastPathArgv(argv: readonly string[]): readonly string[] {
 export function resolveBootstrapRoute(
   rawArgv: readonly string[],
 ): BootstrapRoute {
-  const argv = normalizeServeFastPathArgv(rawArgv);
+  // Fence the `sessions answer <session> <free text...>` payload off from
+  // the scans below before they run: an answer that quotes `--help`,
+  // `--version` or ends in a bare `help` would otherwise be swallowed by
+  // an intercept that prints help/version and exits 0, telling the driving
+  // script the answer was delivered when it was not (issue #11193). After
+  // the separator every later token is positional data to these scans by
+  // construction, so no intercept fires on the payload.
+  const argv = insertSessionAnswerSeparator(
+    normalizeServeFastPathArgv(rawArgv),
+  );
 
   // Base-parity version intercept (structural close). Base printed the
   // version for any `-v`/`--version` token its hasFlag scan reached, no

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/config/config.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/config/config.test.ts
@@ -318,6 +318,65 @@ describe('parseArguments', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('does not let a sessions-answer payload quote help into the help intercept', async () => {
+    // Issue #11193: a free-text answer that quotes `--help` (or ends in a
+    // bare `help`) made the root parser print the usage block and exit 0,
+    // so the driving script read success while the answer was never
+    // delivered. The separator fences the payload off, so the parse takes
+    // the strict unknown-command failure instead — loud, non-zero. (The
+    // yargs parser holds the test runner's process.exit stub, so the
+    // rejection message itself carries the exit code it asked for.)
+    const swallowArgv = [
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      'please',
+      '--help',
+      'me',
+    ];
+    const bareHelpArgv = [
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      'yes',
+      'please',
+      'help',
+    ];
+    for (const answerArgv of [swallowArgv, bareHelpArgv]) {
+      process.argv = ['node', 'script.js', ...answerArgv];
+      await expect(parseArguments()).rejects.toThrow(
+        'process.exit unexpectedly called with "1"',
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('keeps a bare --help answer showing help rather than delivering it', async () => {
+    // The carve-out the answer command's positional documents: a payload
+    // that is exactly `--help` keeps reaching the parser as the help
+    // flag, so it still shows help (exit 0) instead of answering with the
+    // literal text `--help`.
+    process.argv = [
+      'node',
+      'script.js',
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      '--help',
+    ];
+    const output: string[] = [];
+    const log = vi.spyOn(console, 'log').mockImplementation((...args) => {
+      output.push(args.join(' '));
+    });
+    try {
+      await expect(parseArguments()).rejects.toThrow(
+        'process.exit unexpectedly called with "0"',
+      );
+      expect(output.join('')).toContain('qwen sessions');
+    } finally {
+      log.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
   it('should throw an error when both --prompt and --prompt-interactive are used together', async () => {
     process.argv = [
       'node',

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/config/config.ts b/packages/cli/src/config/config.ts
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto';
 import stripJsonComments from 'strip-json-comments';
 
 import { resolvePath } from '../utils/resolvePath.js';
+import { insertSessionAnswerSeparator } from '../utils/session-answer-argv.js';
 import {
   TOP_LEVEL_GLOBAL_OPTIONS,
   DEFAULT_COMMAND,
@@ -579,6 +580,15 @@ export async function parseArguments(): Promise<CliArgs> {
     rawArgv = rawArgv.slice(1);
   }
 
+  // Fence the free-text answer payload off from the root parse: a quoted
+  // `--help`/`--version` (or a bare trailing `help`) inside `qwen sessions
+  // answer <session> <text...>` would otherwise print the usage block or
+  // strip the token from the text and exit 0, so the answer is silently
+  // never delivered (issue #11193). After the separator the payload is
+  // positional data to this parse; the answer command splices the first
+  // `--` back out of its raw-args tail, so the text arrives verbatim.
+  rawArgv = insertSessionAnswerSeparator(rawArgv);
+
   const yargsInstance = yargs(rawArgv)
     .locale('en')
     .scriptName('qwen')

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/session-answer-argv.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/utils/session-answer-argv.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2026 Qwen Team
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { insertSessionAnswerSeparator } from './session-answer-argv.js';
+
+describe('insertSessionAnswerSeparator', () => {
+  it('inserts -- between the session id and a free-text payload', () => {
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'yes, go ahead',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '--', 'yes, go ahead']);
+  });
+
+  it('fences a payload that quotes help/version tokens', () => {
+    // The three shapes from issue #11193's reproduction table.
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'please',
+        '--help',
+        'me',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual([
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      '--',
+      'please',
+      '--help',
+      'me',
+    ]);
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'yes',
+        'please',
+        'help',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual([
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      '--',
+      'yes',
+      'please',
+      'help',
+    ]);
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        'please',
+        '--version',
+        'now',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual([
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '0f8e1c42',
+      '--',
+      'please',
+      '--version',
+      'now',
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('does not touch other commands or unprefixed argv', () => {
+    const untouched: string[][] = [
+      ['--help'],
+      ['--version'],
+      ['sessions', 'list'],
+      ['sessions', 'ps', '--json'],
+      ['mcp', 'remove', 'victim', '-v', 'help'],
+      ['peek', '0f8e1c42'],
+      ['answer', '0f8e1c42', 'yes'],
+    ];
+    for (const argv of untouched) {
+      expect(insertSessionAnswerSeparator(argv)).toEqual(argv);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('keeps a missing or flag-like session id for the parser to reject', () => {
+    expect(insertSessionAnswerSeparator(['sessions', 'answer'])).toEqual([
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+    ]);
+    // `qwen sessions answer --help` (no id) still routes to the command's
+    // help; the demandOption error for a missing id is yargs' to raise.
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator(['sessions', 'answer', '--help']),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '--help']);
+    expect(insertSessionAnswerSeparator(['sessions', 'answer', '-v'])).toEqual([
+      'sessions',
+      'answer',
+      '-v',
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps a bare --help payload showing help (the documented carve-out)', () => {
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        '--help',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '--help']);
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '-h']),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '-h']);
+    // Only the bare form: `--help` with a sibling token is answer text.
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        '--help',
+        'me',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '--', '--help', 'me']);
+  });
+
+  it('does not double a user-supplied separator', () => {
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator([
+        'sessions',
+        'answer',
+        '0f8e1c42',
+        '--',
+        '--force',
+      ]),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42', '--', '--force']);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves an id with no payload alone', () => {
+    expect(
+      insertSessionAnswerSeparator(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42']),
+    ).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42']);
+  });
+
+  it('returns a new array only when it inserts', () => {
+    const untouched = ['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42'];
+    expect(insertSessionAnswerSeparator(untouched)).toBe(untouched);
+    const fenced = insertSessionAnswerSeparator([...untouched, 'yes']);
+    expect(fenced).not.toBe(untouched);
+    expect(untouched).toEqual(['sessions', 'answer', '0f8e1c42']);
+  });
+});