[kanon-fake-user] kanon validate/diff/apply should explain when kanon.yaml is missing

Problem

When a user points Kanon at an initialized-but-incomplete home, the main source and destination commands expose a raw filesystem error instead of explaining how to recover. This is especially easy to hit after moving or deleting kanon.yaml, and it also obscures a wrong --home or KANON_HOME value.

Reproduction on current `main`

Run kanon --home "$HOME" init in a temporary directory.
Remove that directory's kanon.yaml.
Run kanon validate, kanon diff, or kanon apply --dry-run with the same --home.

Each command exits 1 with only open /tmp/.../kanon.yaml: no such file or directory. The command help and README do not explain that the source config is required or point to kanon init, --home, or KANON_HOME as recovery steps. Related onboarding issue #13 identifies the same raw missing-config error at the shared load site; this issue records the verified impact across the advertised quick-start commands.

Suggested outcome

Wrap the missing-config error with the affected path and a concise recovery hint, for example: Kanon source config .../kanon.yaml is missing; run kanon init or check --home/KANON_HOME. Add CLI coverage for validate, diff, and apply --dry-run so the error remains actionable and names the config file.

Latest verdict

Status: VALID
Checked at: 2026-10-27T09:00:55Z
Evidence: origin/main is still at d588121; rebuilt binary and kanon --home <empty dir> validate still exits 1 with only open <dir>/kanon.yaml: no such file or directory. Related: #13 (closed), #65, PR #68 (open, unmerged).

🤖 Kelos Task Status

Task kanon-triage-issues-81844650cd20 has succeeded. ✅

@gjkim42

🤖 Kelos Agent @gjkim42

Kanon Triage Report

Kind: kind/bug
Priority: priority/important-soon — User-facing onboarding bug in the advertised second-machine kanon update workflow.
Actor: actor/kelos — Clear, bounded error-handling change with objectively verifiable CLI output and test coverage.

Status: STILL VALID

Evidence:

No merged PRs referencing 101 were found with gh pr list --state merged --search "101", and recent git history has no matching 101 or title-keyword fix.

Current update still resolves the Kanon home and immediately calls git pull --ff-only without checking whether the source branch tracks an upstream:

kanon/internal/cli/root.go

Lines 399 to 411 in ed22fa0

    
           func updateCommand(opts *options) *cobra.Command { 
        
           	cmd := &cobra.Command{ 
        
           		Use:   "update", 
        
           		Short: "Pull the source repository, then render and apply (remote to destination)", 
        
           		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error { 
        
           			home, err := opts.resolvedHome() 
        
           			if err != nil { 
        
           				return err 
        
           			} 
        
           			if err := core.RunGit(home, cmd.OutOrStdout(), cmd.ErrOrStderr(), "pull", "--ff-only"); err != nil { 
        
           				return err 
        
           			} 
        
           			return opts.runApply(cmd, !opts.yes)

core.RunGit only streams git stderr and wraps failures as git [pull --ff-only]: <error>, so the raw missing-upstream git output remains the user-visible failure path:

kanon/internal/core/git.go

Lines 19 to 28 in ed22fa0

    
           func RunGit(home string, stdout, stderr io.Writer, args ...string) error { 
        
           	cmdArgs := append([]string{"-C", home}, args...) 
        
           	cmd := exec.Command("git", cmdArgs...) 
        
           	cmd.Stdout = stdout 
        
           	cmd.Stderr = stderr 
        
           	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil { 
        
           		return fmt.Errorf("git %v: %w", args, err) 
        
           	} 
        
           	return nil 
        
           }

The referenced command and behavior are current: README still describes kanon update as pull plus apply for another machine.

Duplicates found: None found

Recommendation: KEEP OPEN

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[kanon-fake-user] kanon validate/diff/apply should explain when kanon.yaml is missing #101

Problem

Reproduction on current `main`

Suggested outcome

Latest verdict

Kanon Triage Report

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	func updateCommand(opts options) cobra.Command {
	cmd := &cobra.Command{
	Use: "update",
	Short: "Pull the source repository, then render and apply (remote to destination)",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
	home, err := opts.resolvedHome()
	if err != nil {
	return err
	}
	if err := core.RunGit(home, cmd.OutOrStdout(), cmd.ErrOrStderr(), "pull", "--ff-only"); err != nil {
	return err
	}
	return opts.runApply(cmd, !opts.yes)

	func RunGit(home string, stdout, stderr io.Writer, args ...string) error {
	cmdArgs := append([]string{"-C", home}, args...)
	cmd := exec.Command("git", cmdArgs...)
	cmd.Stdout = stdout
	cmd.Stderr = stderr
	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("git %v: %w", args, err)
	}
	return nil
	}

[kanon-fake-user] kanon validate/diff/apply should explain when kanon.yaml is missing #101

Description

Problem

Reproduction on current main

Suggested outcome

Latest verdict

Activity

kelos-bot commented on Jun 28, 2026

kelos-bot commented on Jun 28, 2026

Kanon Triage Report

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Issue actions

Reproduction on current `main`