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Cortex IDE — IPC Command Bug Report

Date: 2026-03-03
App Version: 0.0.6 (Tauri 2.10.2)
Environment: Linux x86_64, debug build, headless (Xvfb)
Total Registered Commands: 998
Commands Tested: ~150 unique commands
Test Method: window.__TAURI__.core.invoke() via MCP Bridge on localhost:9223

Executive Summary

Out of 998 registered IPC commands, ~150 were directly tested. Of those, 128 calls succeeded and 159 calls failed (including retries with corrected arguments). The failures break down into four categories:

Category Count Severity
Panics (task crashes) 13 calls across 5 commands 🔴 Critical
Timeouts (command never resolves) ~15 commands 🔴 Critical
Environment-specific errors ~5 commands 🟡 Medium
Argument mismatch (wrong arg names used by caller) ~40 calls 🟢 Caller error, not bugs

🔴 BUG 1: Git Commands Panic with "failed printing to stderr: Broken pipe"

Severity: Critical
Affected Commands:

  • git_init
  • git_commit
  • git_clone
  • git_unstage
  • load_keybindings_file

Error:

Task join error: task NNN panicked with message "failed printing to stderr: Broken pipe (os error 32)"

Reproduction:

window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('git_init', {path: '/tmp/test-git-init'})
window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('git_commit', {path: '/workspace/ide', message: 'test', sign: false})
window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('git_clone', {url: 'https://example.com/repo.git', targetDir: '/tmp/clone'})
window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('load_keybindings_file')

Root Cause Analysis:
These commands use tokio::task::spawn_blocking and internally invoke git CLI commands or perform operations that write to stderr. When stderr's pipe is broken (e.g., in headless/daemon mode where the parent process doesn't read stderr), the eprintln!/writeln!(stderr) macro panics because Rust's default behavior is to panic on write failures to stderr.

Impact: Any git operation that shells out to the git CLI will crash the async task. This affects git_init, git_commit, git_clone, git_unstage (when calling git CLI), and load_keybindings_file.

Suggested Fix:
In all spawn_blocking closures that invoke external processes, redirect stderr or use Command::new().stderr(Stdio::piped()) to capture stderr instead of inheriting it. Alternatively, wrap stderr writes in let _ = writeln!(...) to suppress broken pipe panics.

🔴 BUG 2: Multiple Commands Timeout / Never Resolve

Severity: Critical
Affected Commands:

Command Expected Behavior Actual
fs_create_file Creates an empty file File IS created on disk but the Promise never resolves
fs_write_file Writes content to file Content IS written but Promise never resolves
fs_create_directory Creates directory Directory IS created but Promise never resolves
fs_delete_directory Deletes directory Timeout
write_file (fs_commands) Writes file Timeout
delete_entry (fs_commands) Deletes entry Timeout
terminal_create Creates a PTY terminal Timeout
settings_reset Resets settings to defaults Timeout
frontend_ready Triggers Phase B init Timeout
get_system_specs Returns system info Timeout
list_available_themes Lists theme stubs Timeout
i18n_detect_locale Detects system locale Timeout
check_for_updates Checks for app updates Timeout
diagnostics_refresh Refreshes diagnostics Timeout
git_watch_repository Starts git file watcher Timeout
rules_scan_project Scans for rules files Timeout
notebook_detect_kernels Detects Jupyter kernels Timeout
notebook_list_kernels Lists running kernels Timeout
debug_detect_adapters Detects debug adapters Timeout
cortex_create_session Creates AI session Timeout
ai_init_threads Initializes AI threads Timeout
add_recent_workspace Adds workspace to recents Timeout (with correct args)
git_forge_authenticate Authenticates with forge Timeout

Key Observation for FS Commands:
fs_create_file, fs_write_file, and fs_create_directory do complete their file system operations (verified by checking the filesystem), but the IPC Promise never resolves back to the frontend. This strongly suggests a deadlock or blocked event emission after the file operation completes.

Notably, fs_read_file, fs_delete_file, fs_get_metadata, fs_detect_encoding, and other read-only FS commands work perfectly and return within 0-10ms.

Possible Root Causes:

  1. File watcher notification deadlock: Write operations may trigger file system watcher events that attempt to acquire a lock already held by the write operation.
  2. Event emission blocking: The command may be trying to emit a Tauri event (e.g., fs:changed) that blocks on the main thread while the command itself is running on the main thread.
  3. terminal_create: PTY creation may be blocking waiting for shell initialization or attempting to read from the PTY in a way that blocks the async runtime.
  4. frontend_ready: Triggers Phase B initialization which runs many parallel async tasks (extensions, LSP, AI, MCP, SSH, auto-update, factory). Any of these could hang in this headless environment.
  5. get_system_specs: Uses sysinfo crate with CPU refresh which may block for extended periods.

🟡 BUG 3: batch_invoke Only Supports a Subset of Commands

Severity: Medium
Command: batch_invoke

Reproduction:

window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('batch_invoke', {
  calls: [
    {id: '1', cmd: 'get_version', args: {}},
    {id: '2', cmd: 'get_server_info', args: {}}
  ]
})
// Result: get_version succeeds, get_server_info returns "Unknown batch command"

Expected: All registered IPC commands should be callable via batch_invoke.
Actual: Only a subset of commands are registered in the batch dispatcher. get_server_info (and likely many others) return "Unknown batch command".

🟡 BUG 4: settings_update Requires Full Section Object

Severity: Medium
Command: settings_update

Reproduction:

// Attempting to update a single field:
window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('settings_update', {
  section: 'editor',
  value: {fontSize: 16}
})
// Error: "Invalid editor settings: missing field `fontFamily`"

Expected: Partial updates to a settings section should be supported (merge with existing values).
Actual: The entire section object must be provided with all fields, making granular updates impractical for the frontend.

🟡 BUG 5: get_workspace_symbols Rejects Valid Paths

Severity: Medium
Command: get_workspace_symbols

Reproduction:

window.__TAURI__.core.invoke('get_workspace_symbols', {
  query: 'test',
  workspacePath: '/workspace/ide'
})
// Error: "Invalid workspace path: Path '/workspace/ide' is outside allowed directories"

Root Cause: The path security validation (get_allowed_roots()) only allows paths under $HOME, $DOCUMENTS, $TEMP, and a few hardcoded development directories. The current working directory /workspace/ide is not in any of these roots.

Impact: Users working from non-standard directories (containers, CI environments, custom mount points) cannot use workspace symbol search.

🟡 BUG 6: list_listening_ports Fails Without lsof

Severity: Medium
Command: list_listening_ports

Error: Failed to run lsof: No such file or directory (os error 2)

Root Cause: The command shells out to lsof which is not installed in minimal Linux environments (containers, CI).

Suggested Fix: Fall back to parsing /proc/net/tcp on Linux when lsof is unavailable.

🟡 BUG 7: open_in_browser Fails in Headless Environment

Severity: Low (environment-specific)
Command: open_in_browser

Error: Failed to open URL: Launcher "xdg-open" "https://example.com" failed with ExitStatus(unix_wait_status(768))

Root Cause: No desktop environment configured. Expected behavior in headless mode.

🟡 BUG 8: fs_get_documents_dir / fs_get_desktop_dir Fail on Minimal Linux

Severity: Low (environment-specific)
Commands: fs_get_documents_dir, fs_get_desktop_dir

Error: Could not determine documents/desktop directory

Root Cause: dirs::document_dir() / dirs::desktop_dir() return None when XDG directories are not configured (common in containers/CI).

Suggested Fix: Return a sensible fallback (e.g., $HOME/Documents) instead of an error.

🟢 Successfully Tested Commands (128 calls)

All of these commands returned correct results within 0-54ms:

Core / Misc

Command Result Latency
get_version "0.0.6" 0ms
get_server_info {port: 4096, url: "http://127.0.0.1:4096", running: true} 1ms
get_logs "" (empty) 0ms
get_app_version "0.1.0" 1ms
show_notification null (success) 1ms
get_update_status {type: "Checking"} 0ms
get_update_info null 0ms

Settings

Command Result Latency
settings_get Full settings object 0-3ms
settings_load Full settings object 0-1ms
settings_export JSON string of settings 0-1ms

File System (Read Operations)

Command Result Latency
fs_get_home_dir "/root" 1-5ms
fs_get_default_projects_dir "/root/Cortex/Projects" 0ms
fs_exists({path: '/tmp'}) true 0ms
fs_exists({path: '/nonexistent'}) false 1ms
fs_is_file({path: '/etc/hostname'}) true 1ms
fs_is_directory({path: '/tmp'}) true 0ms
fs_read_file File content string 0-1ms
read_file {content, encoding, path, size} 0ms
fs_get_metadata Full metadata object 0ms
fs_detect_encoding "UTF-8" 1ms
fs_detect_eol "LF" 1ms
fs_get_supported_encodings Array of 20+ encodings 0-1ms
fs_list_directory Array of FileEntry objects 1ms
fs_search_files Array of matching files 8-10ms
fs_get_file_tree Nested FileEntry tree 2ms
fs_delete_file null (success) 0ms

Git

Command Result Latency
git_status {branch, staged, unstaged, conflicts, ahead, behind, ...} 13-27ms
git_log({limit: 3}) Array of commit objects 1ms
git_diff Diff string 10-11ms
git_diff_staged [] (empty) 3ms
git_stash_list [] (empty) 0-1ms
git_blame({file: 'package.json'}) Array of BlameEntry objects 53-54ms
git_branches {branches: [...]} 1ms
git_current_branch Branch name string 0ms
git_remotes {remotes: [...]} 0ms
git_head {sha: "..."} 1ms
git_is_repo {isRepo: true} 0ms
git_worktree_list Array of worktree objects 51ms
git_submodule_list [] (empty) 3ms
git_list_tags [] (empty) 1ms
git_lfs_status LFS status object 50ms

Terminal

Command Result Latency
terminal_list [] (empty) 0ms
terminal_get_default_shell "/bin/bash" 3ms
terminal_detect_shells ["/bin/bash", "/bin/sh", "/usr/bin/bash"] 0ms
terminal_profiles_list [] (empty) 0ms
path_exists({path: '/tmp'}) true 0ms

AI / Agents

Command Result Latency
ai_list_models [] (empty) 0ms
ai_list_threads [] (empty) 0ms
ai_thread_count 0 5ms
ai_get_provider_models({provider: 'anthropic'}) Array of model objects 0ms
agent_list [] (empty) 0ms
agent_get_stats Stats object (all zeros) 0ms
cortex_list_stored_sessions [] (empty) 1ms
tools_list Array of tool definitions 0ms
acp_list_tools Array of ACP tool definitions 0ms

Extensions

Command Result Latency
get_extensions [] (empty) 0ms
get_enabled_extensions [] (empty) 0ms
get_extensions_directory "/root/.cortex/extensions" 1ms

Other

Command Result Latency
lsp_list_servers [] (empty) 0ms
diagnostics_get_summary {error_count: 0, ...} 0ms
diagnostics_get_by_file [] (empty) 1ms
collab_get_server_status {running: false, ...} 0ms
activity_get_tasks [] (empty) 0ms
activity_get_history [] (empty) 0ms
action_log_get_entries [] (empty) 1ms
action_log_get_session null 0ms
batch_cache_stats Cache stats object 0ms
get_default_keybindings [] (empty) 0-1ms
get_theme_by_id({id: 'dark'}) Theme data object 1ms
get_recent_workspaces [] (empty) 0-1ms
wsl_list_distributions [] (empty) 0ms
prompt_store_get_path Path string 1ms
mcp_list_servers [] (empty) 1ms
remote_get_profiles [] (empty) 2ms
remote_get_connections [] (empty) 0ms
remote_get_default_key_paths [] (empty) 0ms
timeline_get_stats {totalEntries: 0, ...} 0ms
repl_list_kernel_specs Array of kernel specs 3ms
repl_list_kernels [] (empty) 0ms
factory_list_workflows [] (empty) 0ms
batch_invoke Array of results 6ms
rules_get_user_dir "/root/.cortex/rules" 0ms
search_history_get {searchEntries: [], replaceEntries: []} 0ms
search_history_load Same as above 1ms
tasks_list [] (empty) 0ms
tasks_get_config {version: "2.0.0", tasks: [], inputs: []} 0ms
browser_list [] (empty) 0ms
language_get_all Array of language definitions 1ms
language_get_by_extension({extension: 'rs'}) {id: "rust", ...} 1ms
language_get_by_id({id: 'rust'}) {id: "rust", ...} 0ms
language_detect_from_path({path: 'test.rs'}) "rust" 0ms

Network-Dependent Failures (Expected in Offline Environment)

These commands failed because the test environment has no internet access:

Command Error
search_marketplace Failed to fetch from https://marketplace.cortex.ai/...
get_featured_extensions Failed to fetch from https://marketplace.cortex.ai/...
get_marketplace_categories Failed to fetch from https://marketplace.cortex.ai/...

mcp__tauri__ipc_execute_command Does Not Work

The MCP Bridge's ipc_execute_command tool returns "Unsupported Tauri command" for all tested commands (get_version, get_server_info, settings_get, get_logs). All commands must be invoked via window.__TAURI__.core.invoke() through webview_execute_js instead. This appears to be a limitation of the MCP Bridge plugin's command routing — it does not have access to the app's registered invoke handler.

Recommendations

Priority 1 — Fix Panics

  1. Guard all spawn_blocking git CLI invocations against stderr broken pipe panics. Use Command::new().stderr(Stdio::piped()) or wrap stderr writes.
  2. Fix load_keybindings_file — same stderr panic issue.

Priority 2 — Fix Timeouts

  1. Investigate fs_create_file / fs_write_file / fs_create_directory deadlock. The file operations complete but the Promise never resolves. Check for file watcher lock contention or blocking event emission.
  2. Fix terminal_create timeout. PTY creation or shell startup may be blocking the async runtime.
  3. Add timeout guards to get_system_specs, settings_reset, check_for_updates, debug_detect_adapters, notebook_detect_kernels, and other commands that can hang indefinitely.

Priority 3 — Improve Robustness

  1. Support partial settings updates in settings_update by merging with existing values.
  2. Expand batch_invoke command registry to include all registered commands.
  3. Add fallback for list_listening_ports when lsof is unavailable (parse /proc/net/tcp).
  4. Return fallback paths for fs_get_documents_dir / fs_get_desktop_dir when XDG dirs are not configured.
  5. Expand get_allowed_roots() to include the current working directory on all platforms, not just Windows.