From 136837f654b58ff9444a7a90c8f384203aba3461 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ErSpell <114104796+erSpell@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2026 20:00:58 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix: validate startup env choices

---
 tests/test_config.py | 49 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 vaultrag/cli.py      | 14 ++++++++-----
 vaultrag/config.py   | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
 3 files changed, 95 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 tests/test_config.py

diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72d197b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+from io import StringIO
+
+import pytest
+from rich.console import Console
+
+from vaultrag import cli
+from vaultrag.config import StartupConfigError, get_settings
+
+
+def test_invalid_embedder_raises_structured_startup_error(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("EMBEDDER", "typo")
+
+    with pytest.raises(StartupConfigError) as excinfo:
+        get_settings()
+
+    error = excinfo.value
+    assert error.variable == "EMBEDDER"
+    assert error.value == "typo"
+    assert error.valid_values == ("local", "fake")
+    assert "Invalid EMBEDDER='typo'" in str(error)
+    assert "valid values: local, fake" in str(error)
+
+
+def test_invalid_llm_raises_structured_startup_error(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("LLM", "typo")
+
+    with pytest.raises(StartupConfigError) as excinfo:
+        get_settings()
+
+    error = excinfo.value
+    assert error.variable == "LLM"
+    assert error.value == "typo"
+    assert error.valid_values == ("groq", "fake")
+    assert "Invalid LLM='typo'" in str(error)
+    assert "valid values: groq, fake" in str(error)
+
+
+def test_cli_reports_invalid_embedder_without_traceback(monkeypatch):
+    output = StringIO()
+    monkeypatch.setenv("EMBEDDER", "typo")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli, "console", Console(file=output, width=120, color_system=None))
+
+    assert cli.main(["health"]) == 2
+
+    rendered = output.getvalue()
+    assert "configuration error" in rendered
+    assert "Invalid EMBEDDER='typo'" in rendered
+    assert "valid values: local, fake" in rendered
+    assert "Traceback" not in rendered
diff --git a/vaultrag/cli.py b/vaultrag/cli.py
index 6ccb1d0..90597db 100644
--- a/vaultrag/cli.py
+++ b/vaultrag/cli.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from rich.markup import escape
 from rich.table import Table
 
-from .config import get_settings
+from .config import StartupConfigError, get_settings
 from .conflicts import corpus_freshness, detect_conflicts, detect_stale
 from .db import init_schema
 from .embeddings import get_embedder
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ async def _health(args) -> int:
 
 
 def _diff(args) -> int:
-    from .evaluate import EvalReport, CaseResult
+    from .evaluate import CaseResult, EvalReport
 
     def load(p):
         d = json.loads(Path(p).read_text())
@@ -203,9 +203,13 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
     d.set_defaults(func=_diff)
 
     args = p.parse_args(argv)
-    if hasattr(args, "afunc"):
-        return asyncio.run(args.afunc(args))
-    return args.func(args)
+    try:
+        if hasattr(args, "afunc"):
+            return asyncio.run(args.afunc(args))
+        return args.func(args)
+    except StartupConfigError as exc:
+        console.print(f"[red]configuration error[/] {escape(str(exc))}")
+        return 2
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/vaultrag/config.py b/vaultrag/config.py
index 0d70cd8..fcf5c6d 100644
--- a/vaultrag/config.py
+++ b/vaultrag/config.py
@@ -5,18 +5,46 @@
 import os
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 
+VALID_EMBEDDERS = ("local", "fake")
+VALID_LLMS = ("groq", "fake")
+
+
+class StartupConfigError(ValueError):
+    """Raised when startup configuration is invalid."""
+
+    def __init__(self, variable: str, value: str, valid_values: tuple[str, ...]) -> None:
+        self.variable = variable
+        self.value = value
+        self.valid_values = valid_values
+        super().__init__(
+            f"Invalid {variable}={value!r}; valid values: {', '.join(valid_values)}"
+        )
+
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
 class Settings:
-    database_url: str = os.getenv(
-        "DATABASE_URL", "postgresql://vaultrag:vaultrag@localhost:5433/vaultrag"
-    )
-    embedder: str = os.getenv("EMBEDDER", "local")
-    embed_model: str = os.getenv("EMBED_MODEL", "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2")
-    llm: str = os.getenv("LLM", "groq")
-    groq_api_key: str | None = os.getenv("GROQ_API_KEY")
-    groq_model: str = os.getenv("GROQ_MODEL", "llama-3.3-70b-versatile")
+    database_url: str
+    embedder: str
+    embed_model: str
+    llm: str
+    groq_api_key: str | None
+    groq_model: str
+
+
+def _validated_choice(variable: str, value: str, valid_values: tuple[str, ...]) -> str:
+    if value in valid_values:
+        return value
+    raise StartupConfigError(variable, value, valid_values)
 
 
 def get_settings() -> Settings:
-    return Settings()
+    return Settings(
+        database_url=os.getenv(
+            "DATABASE_URL", "postgresql://vaultrag:***@localhost:5433/vaultrag"
+        ),
+        embedder=_validated_choice("EMBEDDER", os.getenv("EMBEDDER", "local"), VALID_EMBEDDERS),
+        embed_model=os.getenv("EMBED_MODEL", "sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2"),
+        llm=_validated_choice("LLM", os.getenv("LLM", "groq"), VALID_LLMS),
+        groq_api_key=os.getenv("GROQ_API_KEY"),
+        groq_model=os.getenv("GROQ_MODEL", "llama-3.3-70b-versatile"),
+    )