feat(tui): offer mid-run model escalation behind --allow-escalation - #1019
feat(tui): offer mid-run model escalation behind --allow-escalation#1019Vasanthdev2004 wants to merge 8 commits into
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Greptile SummaryThe PR adds opt-in model escalation to interactive TUI sessions and consolidates exec/TUI switcher construction.
Confidence Score: 4/5The root flag parser needs correction before merging because documented interactive flags fail when placed after The escalation runtime wiring preserves the existing switch contracts, but the new leading-only parser is ordered such that several ordinary combinations of supported root flags are rejected instead of launching the TUI. Files Needing Attention: internal/cli/app.go, internal/cli/tui_escalation_test.go
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| Filename | Overview |
|---|---|
| internal/cli/app.go | Adds root escalation parsing and TUI wiring, but the fixed sequence of leading-only parsers rejects valid flag combinations. |
| internal/providers/escalation.go | Centralizes legacy-provider and turn-session escalation while preserving no-swap and error behavior. |
| internal/tui/model.go | Installs escalation switchers per agent run using the TUI’s currently active provider profile. |
| internal/cli/exec.go | Replaces duplicated exec switcher closures with behaviorally equivalent shared construction. |
| internal/cli/tui_escalation_test.go | Covers opt-in wiring and placement around unsafe mode, but not composition with theme or add-directory flags. |
Flowchart
%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
A[Root arguments] --> B[Parse add-dir]
B --> C[Parse theme]
C --> D[Parse add-dir again]
D --> E[Parse allow-escalation]
E --> F{Arguments remain?}
F -- No --> G[Launch interactive TUI]
F -- Yes --> H[Command dispatch]
H --> I[Unknown command or unsafe stray-argument error]
E -. Later theme/add-dir remains unparsed .-> I
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| addDirs = append(addDirs, moreDirs...) | ||
| // --allow-escalation opts the interactive session into mid-run model | ||
| // escalation, mirroring the exec flag of the same name. | ||
| allowEscalation, args, err := splitLeadingAllowEscalationFlag(args) |
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When --allow-escalation precedes --theme or --add-dir, the earlier leading-only parsers stop at the escalation flag, and removing it here leaves the following valid root flag to be treated as an unknown command. The unsafe path has the same ordering problem for commands such as zero --skip-permissions-unsafe --allow-escalation --theme dark, causing valid interactive invocations to exit with an argument error instead of launching the TUI.
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Real, and a bit wider than the two flags named: --add-dir was stranded the same way in the escalation-first orderings, and a --theme written before --skip-permissions-unsafe was dropped on that path even without escalation in the picture. Fixed in b471a7e. The three splitters now run until they make no progress, at the root and again after the unsafe flag, so any ordering reaches the TUI with every flag applied. TestRootFlagsComposeInAnyOrder covers ten orderings on both paths; on the previous head eight of them exit with exactly the errors described here (unknown command "--theme", unknown command "--add-dir", and the --add-dir must come before any other arguments rejection on the unsafe path).
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Included review availability: 3 reviews are currently available. Your included PR review attempts over the past 7 days set your current allowance at 5 reviews per hour. WalkthroughThe CLI adds the bare ChangesInteractive escalation enablement
Priority: ⬇️ Low Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~30 minutes Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to The opt-in escalation flag adds interactive model switching and usage attribution, but unsupported commands may still silently accept a trailing escalation flag. This is a bounded CLI-behavior issue that should be addressed before relying on rejection behavior. Suggested reviewers: Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant CLI
participant TUI
participant Agent
participant ProviderFactory
CLI->>TUI: pass --allow-escalation state
TUI->>Agent: register escalate_model and configure switchers
Agent->>ProviderFactory: create provider for target model
ProviderFactory-->>Agent: return switched provider
Agent->>TUI: record usage with active model ID
🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1❌ Failed checks (1 warning)
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
✨ Finishing Touches 💡 1📝 Generate docstrings 💡
🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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Inline comments:
In `@internal/tui/model.go`:
- Around line 5516-5518: Update the EscalationSwitchers invocation in the model
setup flow to pass an onSwitch callback that assigns the current escalated model
ID to usageModelID after a successful provider swap, while preserving existing
switch behavior. Add a regression test covering both escalation switcher
branches and verifying subsequent usage events report the updated model ID.
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internal/cli/app.gointernal/cli/completions.gointernal/cli/exec.gointernal/cli/setup.gointernal/cli/tui_escalation_test.gointernal/providers/escalation.gointernal/providers/escalation_test.gointernal/tui/model.gointernal/tui/options.go
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Inline comments:
In `@internal/cli/app.go`:
- Line 316: Update the root-flag handling around splitLeadingRootFlags so
--allow-escalation cannot be silently removed for non-interactive commands:
reject it before command dispatch unless the command enters the interactive TUI,
or explicitly propagate and apply its escalation behavior to those commands.
Preserve normal root-flag parsing and interactive TUI behavior.
In `@internal/cli/root_flag_order_test.go`:
- Line 24: Add test cases in the root-flag permutation table within
rootFlagOrder tests covering the ask path ordering of --theme auto, --add-dir,
and --allow-escalation, plus unsafe-path orderings such as
--skip-permissions-unsafe, --theme auto, and --allow-escalation; alternatively
generate the complete permutation matrix while preserving existing assertions.
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Inline comments:
In `@internal/cli/app.go`:
- Around line 341-342: Update the command-dispatch validation around
allowEscalation and forwardsRootFlags to also detect trailing --allow-escalation
flags, including the =value form, for unsupported commands such as help and
version. Route those cases through writeAppError with the existing
unsupported-command message, while preserving accepted behavior for the
interactive TUI and exec paths.
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I found two issues that need to be addressed before this is ready. This review covers head 033e3e8c against main at f30f550e.
Merge readiness
Please rebase onto main before merge, as required by the repository's fresh-base rule. The merge base is aadb4a27; f30f550e adds #805's protection for worktree .git pointer files. There is no changed-file overlap or release-metadata drift. Preserve that upstream protection and validate the combined result. At the reviewed head, GitHub reports a mergeable branch and passing checks, with the review decision CHANGES_REQUESTED. This is a merge-readiness item separate from the two findings below.
Findings
[P2] Persist the model on escalated TUI usage events
internal/tui/model.go:5908–5912
Failure and impact. Start an interactive run on claude-haiku-4.5 with --allow-escalation, record usage, escalate to Sonnet, and record another completion's usage. The new callback and usageModelIDs retain those model identities in memory. However, the corresponding sessions.EventUsage payload contains only usage.EventUsagePayload(event), which omits model. When the session events are saved, that identity is lost. usage.BuildReport subsequently falls back to the session's initial Metadata.ModelID for both events, so zero usage report prices the Sonnet completion as Haiku. With 10 input/1 output tokens before the switch and 20 input/2 output afterward, the captured catalog yields $0.000045 instead of $0.000105. This affects the reported cost estimate, not the provider's actual bill.
Root cause. The event has two representations: the live/response usage record and the persisted session payload. The new attribution is attached only to the former. appendSessionEvents and appendSessionEventsTo persist the payload they receive; neither has the parallel usageModelIDs slice available to reconstruct the missing identity. The shared payload builder explicitly leaves escalation callers responsible for adding model, and exec already does so under its escalation flag (internal/cli/exec.go:716–726). Exposing that same mixed-model run in the TUI needs the equivalent writer-side handling.
Requested fix. Capture the current run-model identity when OnUsage constructs each pending session event, and include it in the existing optional model field for escalation-enabled runs, following exec's convention. Attaching the identity at the producer gives the existing success, error, and cancelled-run flush paths the same complete payload. Keep the token/cache/reasoning fields and the existing fallback for older events intact. A change to the session's overall model or a reporting heuristic would not retain the correct identity of both pre-switch and post-switch events.
Focused verification. Extend the scripted escalation coverage beyond the live messages and usageModelIDs: serialize/persist the emitted usage events, read them back, and reconstruct the cost with usage.BuildReport. Assert the two event model identities and compare the total against the sum calculated for each actual completion model. Derive expected costs from the test catalog rather than hard-coding current prices. Preserve the existing no-swap/error attribution assertions and the non-escalation payload behavior.
The scope here is the missing identity on this PR's newly enabled mixed-model event stream. It does not require a historical-data migration, changing session-level model selection, or repairing the separate pre-existing dedicated-compaction attribution issue.
[P2] Isolate the new CLI launch helpers from user state
internal/cli/tui_escalation_test.go:18–25; related helper at internal/cli/root_flag_order_test.go:161–180
Failure and impact. captureTUIOptions replaces only getwd and runTUI. Before execution reaches the intercepted TUI callback, production defaults read the user config, start the model-cache refresh, open stores, and call MigratePlaintextProviderKeys. Calling this helper with an emulated default user config containing an inline API key rewrites that config to apiKeyStored: true and moves the key into the selected credential backend. Ordinary execution of these new tests can therefore mutate a developer's real configuration. Their results also depend on that machine's configured providers, MCP servers, plugins, and other startup state. The permutation tests repeatedly invoke this helper.
Root cause. A temporary working directory isolates project files, but it does not isolate user-scoped startup dependencies. fillAppDeps fills the omitted dependencies with production implementations, and the runTUI interception happens after those implementations have run. The new execAdvertisesEscalateModel helper isolates session data and supplies a fake provider/config resolver/grant store, but leaves other config, cache, MCP, and plugin startup paths using defaults. Both new helpers need their isolation boundary established before entering runWithDeps.
Requested fix. Give these helpers controlled test fixtures for the user-scoped state they reach. Use injected dependencies where available and platform-appropriate temporary config/data/cache/runtime roots for the remaining default paths. Keep credential operations within a fixture-backed store or fake backend so they cannot reach the host keyring, and disable the background model fetch for these wiring tests. Apply the setup to both new helpers and restore any environment changes through the test framework. Keep the real root parser, opt-in forwarding, and tool-registration paths exercised; replacing the final captured options with fabricated values would remove the behavior these tests are meant to prove.
Focused verification. Exercise the helpers with a deliberately seeded, emulated user config/cache outside their own fixture roots and verify that state remains unchanged. Re-run the new flag-order, opt-in, and exec-advertisement tests alongside their neighboring CLI tests to check that the isolation setup does not leak between cases. The assertions should continue to detect a dropped escalation flag or incorrect tool registration.
Please keep this repair in the test setup added by this PR. Production credential migration and startup behavior are valid paths to preserve; a repository-wide test cleanup or production dependency-injection refactor is not needed to address this finding.
Mid-run escalation existed but only exec offered it. The TUI already handled every consequence of a switch, re-deriving the compaction threshold "after a mid-run escalate_model switch" and resolving the summarizer against the active profile, while nothing on that surface could cause one: escalate_model was registered by exec alone. This closes that, opt-in, the same conservative way exec answers the question. Opt-in rather than default because escalation moves a run onto a different model, which changes what it costs and which provider sees the conversation. That is the operator's call, and the exec flag already answers it. The switchers are built per turn from m.providerProfile rather than once at launch. A TUI session can change models with /model, so a closure capturing the startup profile would escalate from whatever the session began with instead of what is in force now, and would carry that stale profile's base URL and credential with it. exec has no such problem because its profile cannot change mid-run, which is why the wiring lives in different places on the two surfaces. The nil-contract logic is now shared rather than copied. providers. EscalationSwitchers is the single implementation both surfaces call: the loop swaps only on a non-nil provider, so a (nil, nil) return has to leave everything untouched including the caller's usage attribution, and the session switcher is installed only when the run STARTED optimized so escalation cannot change the transport underneath a session. A second copy of that would only ever have been exercised on one surface. exec's behaviour is unchanged: its six existing escalation tests pass against the shared builder. The tool and the switchers ride on one flag and a test asserts they cannot be separated. Registering escalate_model without wiring a switcher ships a tool the loop silently ignores, so the model reports an escalation that never happened; that is the specific failure worth a guard rather than a comment. Note this does not answer all of #554. Assigning models per phase, plan with one and execute with another, is still not built. This makes the mechanism reachable from the interactive surface, which is the part that was one flag away. Refs #554
exec reassigns currentModel when the escalation switcher fires; the TUI captured usageModelID once per run and handed the switcher no callback, so every usage event after a mid-run escalation was billed to the model the run started on. The switcher now updates usageModelID, and the final response carries the model per usage event so the batch fallback does not swing the other way and bill the events before the switch to the escalated model. Covered by a run through a scripted escalation that checks both the live and the batch attribution.
Each leading-flag splitter stops at the first token it does not own, so running them once in a fixed sequence made the order load-bearing: `zero --allow-escalation --theme auto` stranded the theme as an unknown command and exited with an argument error instead of launching, and the same happened after --skip-permissions-unsafe. The three splitters now run until they make no progress, at the root and after the unsafe flag, so every ordering reaches the TUI with every flag applied. A --theme written before --skip-permissions-unsafe was dropped on that path; it is kept now, with a later one winning as the last occurrence does.
…where The root flag was stripped before dispatch, so `zero --allow-escalation exec ...` and `zero --allow-escalation -p ...` ran without the opt-in the help text promises, and `zero --allow-escalation version` accepted a flag it could only discard. It now follows --add-dir: re-synthesised into the exec argument list for the exec and -p shapes, so exec parses it as its own flag, and rejected loudly for every other command. The ordering test now generates every permutation of the three root flags, with --skip-permissions-unsafe absent or at any position.
The live usage record carried the model in force; the persisted session payload did not. The usage report rebuilds cost from that payload and falls back to the session-wide model when an event does not name one, so an escalated interactive run was priced end to end at the model it started on. Written only under escalation, matching what exec records under the same flag, so an ordinary run persists the same compact payload as before.
A temporary working directory isolates project files and nothing else. runWithDeps fills the dependencies a test leaves out with production ones, and the interactive launch path reads user config, opens stores, refreshes the models.dev cache and migrates any inline plaintext API key into the credential store before it reaches an injected runTUI callback. Running these tests on a developer machine therefore rewrote that developer's config.json and wrote a credential file beside it, and the results depended on whatever providers, MCP servers and plugins the machine had. Both new helpers now point every per-user base directory at a throwaway root, pin the models.dev cache path, disable its background fetch, and force the file credential backend so nothing reaches the host keyring. A new test seeds a config with an inline key outside those fixture roots and fails if either helper rewrites it or leaves a file beside it; without the isolation it reports the rewritten config and the credentials.enc files.
t.Setenv restores at the end of the test, not when the helper returns, so one test exercising both helpers let the first isolation cover for the second. Each helper now seeds its own emulated user config in a subtest, and removing the isolation from either one fails that subtest.
The exec helper writes its models.dev cache from a background goroutine, so a footprint check could not prove its isolation deterministically. Each subtest now also asserts the helper moved the per-user paths off the seeded root and disabled the fetch and the keyring backend, which fails for either helper when the isolation call is removed.
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Both fixed, and rebased onto Persisted usage model. Right, and it was the same shape as the bug you caught the first time round, one layer down: the live record carried the model and the persisted payload did not. The test drives the scripted escalation, persists through Test isolation. Reproduced before fixing: seeding a config with an inline key and calling
Two things worth flagging about the verification, because the first version of it was weaker than it looked:
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Mid-run model escalation existed but only
zero execoffered it. The TUI already handled every consequence of a switch, re-deriving the compaction threshold "after a mid-run escalate_model switch" and resolving the summarizer against the active profile, while nothing on that surface could cause one:escalate_modelwas registered by exec alone.This makes it reachable interactively, opt-in.
Why opt-in
Escalation moves a run onto a different model, which changes what it costs and which provider sees the conversation. That is the operator's decision rather than a default, and
zero exec --allow-escalationalready answers the question conservatively; the interactive surface should not answer it differently.zero --allow-escalation(accepted on either side of--skip-permissions-unsafe, like--themeand--add-dir). An=valueform is a loud error, so a mistyped--allow-escalation=falsecannot silently enable the thing it was trying to turn off.The switchers are built per turn, not once at launch
This is the one place the two surfaces genuinely differ. A TUI session can change models with
/model, so a closure capturing the profile from launch would escalate from whatever the session began with rather than what is in force now, and would carry that stale profile's base URL and credential with it. The TUI builds fromm.providerProfile, which tracks those switches. exec has no such problem because its profile cannot change mid-run.One implementation of the nil contracts, not two
providers.EscalationSwitchersis now the single builder both surfaces call. The interesting part of this code is not the switch, it is the nil handling around it:(nil, nil)return means "no swap" and must leave everything untouched, including the caller's usage attributionCopying that into a second surface would have left a version only ever exercised on one of them. exec's behaviour is unchanged and its six existing escalation tests pass against the shared builder.
The tool and the switchers cannot drift apart
Registering
escalate_modelwithout wiring a switcher ships a tool the model can call and the loop silently ignores, so a run reports an escalation that never happened. Both halves ride on the same flag andTestInteractiveTUIEscalationToolAndSwitchersAreWiredTogetherasserts that, whichever half a future change touches.Verified
Falsified four ways, each failing a different assertion:
onSwitchfired without a real swap: my unit test fails and so does exec's existingTestRunExecNilSwitchProviderKeepsOriginalAttribution, which is the evidence the refactor preserved exec's contract rather than merely satisfying new testsgo buildfor windows, linux and darwin. The three test failures on my box (TestBuildServeScopeKeepsLexicalPaths,TestAltScreenTranscriptScrollKeepsFooterFixed,TestEagerToolSchemaTokenBudget) all reproduce onmainwithout this branch: the first needs a symlink privilege an unelevated Windows box lacks, and the third is the Windows PowerShell 5.1 budget bug that #1017 fixes.What this does not do
It does not answer all of #554. Assigning models per phase, plan with one and execute with another, is still not built. This makes the existing mechanism reachable from the interactive surface, which was the part that was one flag away.
Refs #554
Summary by CodeRabbit
New Features
--allow-escalation.Bug Fixes
--allow-escalationinstead of silently ignoring it.--allow-escalationare rejected.Tests