[BUG] [v0.0.7] `cortex workspace edit` cannot use editor commands that include flags like `code --wait`

[lucaserevo]

Project

cortex

Description

Many developers set EDITOR or pass --editor using a command line that includes flags, such as code --wait or subl -w, to ensure the editor blocks until the file is closed. Cortex passes the entire string to Command::new as a single executable name on many platforms, which fails because code --wait is not a single binary. Users experience opaque OS errors (“not found”) even when VS Code is installed and on PATH. The product either needs argv splitting (shell-like parsing) or an explicit, documented contract that only a bare executable name is supported, plus examples for common editors.

Error Message

Debug Logs

System Information

OS: Windows 11

Screenshots

https://github.com/springoliver/bounty_challenge_report_image/blob/main/49105.mp4

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run $env:EDITOR="code --wait", cortex workspace edit.
2. Or run cortex workspace edit --editor 'code --wait'.
3. Observe the command failure.

Expected Behavior

Cortex should split the editor command and its flags correctly, or clearly document that only a bare executable name is supported.

Actual Behavior

Cortex tries to execute the full string code --wait as a single binary name and fails before opening the config file.

Additional Context

No response

[atlas-cortex]

🔁 Validation Summary — Issue #53428

Issue is a duplicate of #53427 (similarity: 1.00)

Duplicate of #53427 — the original issue takes precedence.

Confidence Score: 5/5

• High confidence — this issue substantially overlaps with [BUG] [v0.0.7] cortex workspace edit cannot use editor commands that include flags like code --wait #53427.

Validation Checks

Check	Status	Detail
Media Evidence	✅ Pass	Evidence found and accessible
Spam Detection	✅ Pass	Score: 0% — no spam signals
Duplicate Detection	❌ Duplicate	Matches existing issue #53427
Code Verification	✅ Pass	Bug confirmed in source code (confidence: 100%) — The code in src/cortex-cli/src/workspace_cmd.rs retrieves the editor from the
Edit History	✅ Pass	No suspicious edits
LLM Evaluation	❌ Fail	Issue is a duplicate of #53427 (similarity: 1.00)

Validation Pipeline

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A["Issue #53428"] --> B{"Media Check"}
    B -->|"✅ Found"| C{"Spam Check"}
    C -->|"✅ Clean"| D{"Duplicate Check"}
    D -->|"Matches #53427"| Z["🔁 Duplicate"]
    style Z fill:#ffa94d,color:#fff

Loading

Raw Evidence

{
  "media": {
    "hasMedia": true,
    "accessible": true,
    "urls": [
      "https://github.com/springoliver/bounty_challenge_report_image/blob/main/49105.mp4"
    ],
    "evidence": [
      "Found 1 media URL(s) via markdown parsing",
      "1 URL(s) accessible"
    ]
  },
  "spam": {
    "overallScore": 0,
    "details": "template=0.00 (0 recent issues compared); burst=0.00 (1 issues in 2h window); parity=0.00; overall=0.00 (threshold=0.7)"
  },
  "duplicate": {
    "isDuplicate": true,
    "originalIssue": 53427,
    "similarity": 1,
    "topSimilar": [
      {
        "issueNumber": 53427,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] `cortex workspace edit` cannot use editor commands that include flags like `code --wait`",
        "similarity": 1
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 53123,
        "title": "[BUG][v0.0.7] `cortex workspace edit --editor` accepts arbitrary executable path with no safety guard",
        "similarity": 0.5978191399479003
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 50809,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] cortex config --edit flag is accepted but ignored (no interactive editor opened)",
        "similarity": 0.5716378552669885
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 52751,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] `cortex config --edit` is accepted by Clap but `show_config` never opens an editor or branches on it",
        "similarity": 0.5704329892558764
      },
      {
        "issueNumber": 51987,
        "title": "[BUG] [v0.0.7] workspace edit prints Workspace initialized and writes config before failing to launch the editor",
        "similarity": 0.5656254732974233
      }
    ]
  },
  "editHistory": {
    "fraudScore": 0,
    "editCount": 0,
    "details": "No edits detected"
  },
  "codeVerification": {
    "plausible": true,
    "confidence": 1,
    "reasoning": "The code in `src/cortex-cli/src/workspace_cmd.rs` retrieves the editor from the `--editor` flag or the `EDITOR`/`VISUAL` environment variables. It then passes the entire string directly to `std::process::Command::new(&editor)`. If the editor string contains spaces and flags (e.g., `code --wait`), `Command::new` will treat the entire string as the executable name and fail to find it, confirming the bug report.",
    "codeEvidence": "let editor = args.editor.or_else(|| std::env::var(\"EDITOR\").ok()).or_else(|| std::env::var(\"VISUAL\").ok()).unwrap_or_else(|| { if cfg!(windows) { \"notepad\".to_string() } else { \"nano\".to_string() } }); let status = std::process::Command::new(&editor).arg(&config_path).status()?;",
    "screenshotValid": true,
    "screenshotReasoning": "The screenshot analysis tool returned valid: true for the provided mp4 file."
  }
}

_{Validated by Atlas • 2026-05-01}