[Poncho1112]

Five lint rules, each from a manifest mistake that burned real worker attempts in one operator's runs. They were recorded at the time, and each one kept recurring because nothing caught it before spawn.

Rule	What it catches	What it cost
Claude list flag swallows the spec	a claude task whose engine_args end on --allowedTools, --add-dir, --disallowedTools, --mcp-config, ...	the spec Ringer appends after {engine_args} becomes one more list value; every attempt, retry included, dies in seconds with Input must be provided either through stdin or as a prompt argument
Unbalanced quote	shlex.split(check) fails (heredocs are skipped)	an apostrophe inside a single-quoted bash -c '...' ends the string early; the check dies with a syntax error against correct work
Codex writable_roots	a codex task (non-worktree) whose expect_files are absolute paths outside its task directory, with no writable_roots in engine_args	the sandbox refuses the write; the worker stages the output in its task dir and the run FAILs
Collapsed untracked dirs	git status --porcelain/--short without --untracked-files=all	git reports a new directory as one dir/ line, so file-level ownership checks fail honest work
Bash-only syntax under /bin/sh	pipefail, [[, <<< outside a quoted bash -c argument	checks run through /bin/sh (dash on Debian/Ubuntu): set: Illegal option -o pipefail

About rule 1 and the README. The README already says "Watch for variadic CLI flags… put {spec} before that flag" for args_template. This rule catches the same hazard when it arrives through a task's engine_args.

• lint only sees the manifest, so it warns and offers both fixes: the = form, or an args_template with {spec} first.
• validate_manifest_engines has the config, so run refuses the task only when that engine's args_template puts {spec} after {engine_args}, which is when the swallow really happens. An engine set up the way the README recommends runs normally.
• The README paragraph gains one sentence describing this.

All other findings are warnings, like the existing lint output.

Tests

• tests/test_lint_footguns.py has 12 tests covering each rule's positive case and the look-alikes that must stay quiet: the = form, a later scalar flag such as --effort max, other engines, a quoted heredoc containing an apostrophe, writable_roots given, relative or in-task paths, worktrees mode, -uall, and bash -c wrapping. It also covers run refusing before any worker starts when the order is fatal, and proceeding when it isn't.
• RINGER_NO_SELF_UPDATE=1 python3 -m unittest discover -s tests passes all 296 tests.

This is independent of #154, #155 and #156.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code