[Bug] Required-value CLI options consume following flags instead of reporting a missing value

[Lauritz-Timm]

Affected area

Coding agent and CLI argument parsing

What happened?

CLI options that require a value can consume the next option token as that value instead of reporting that the value is missing.

For example, --cwd --help treats --help as a directory name. The help flag is never processed, and Prime Agent attempts to change into a directory literally named --help.

The same parser pattern affects other value-taking options such as --provider, --model, --api-key, --daemon-socket, session options, and resource paths. A value-taking option at the end of the command can also be silently accepted as an extension flag without a diagnostic.

Steps to reproduce

From any directory that does not contain a child directory named --help, run:

prime-agent --cwd --help

The command exits with an error similar to:

Error: Cannot use cwd /current/directory/--help: ENOENT: no such file or directory

Another parser-level example on a source checkout is:

cd packages/coding-agent
npx tsx -e 'import { parseArgs } from "./src/cli/args.ts"; const r = parseArgs(["--model", "--print", "hello"]); console.log({ model: r.model, print: r.print, messages: r.messages, diagnostics: r.diagnostics });'

Current output shows model: "--print", print: undefined, and no diagnostics.

Expected behavior

Prime Agent should report a clear missing-value error such as --cwd requires a value. A following option must remain a separate option rather than being consumed as data.

Prime Agent version

0.7.2; also confirmed in current main at 97b994c3d7c45ca1ae635190e91e9e58ddf2577c

Environment

Fedora Linux x86_64, Node.js v22.23.1

Additional context

parseArgs() already uses a required-value guard for autonomous and goal options. Most older value-taking options only check that another token exists before consuming it, and trailing known options fall through to generic extension-flag handling.

I can add focused parser regressions and a narrow fix if maintainers want this changed and invite the implementation.