fix(mothership): stop Chat reading files search as a download of a file named search

[waleedlatif1]

Summary

• The Chat CLI file transport matched GET /api/v2/files/search with its ^([^/]+)$ file-id pattern. It treated files search as a direct download of a file with id search, so the command failed with an unrelated validation error (Unrecognized key: "query").
• The transport now recognizes the search route and doesn't misroute it.
• For now it refuses the route with a clear message that points to grep <pattern> --scope files. Search results quote indexed file text but don't report the provenance of the files they quote, so passing them through would let content of unknown provenance reach the model unchecked. A separate change makes the search use case report per-file provenance. Once that lands, this branch can forward search through the provenance-admitting path like bulk download.
• The change is confined to the transport's path matching.

Type of Change

• Bug fix

Testing

• New case in file-provenance.test.ts runs files search --query … through the real CLI handler. It expects the clear refusal and that no file lookup or storage read happens. It fails on the old code with the download-contract validation error.
• bunx vitest run lib/mothership/agent-cli passes (300 tests). bun run test:scripts passes.
• bun run lint, bun run type-check and bun run check:audits pass.

Checklist

• Code follows project style guidelines
• Self-reviewed my changes
• Tests added/updated and passing (new tests pass the test-audit authoring gate)
• No new warnings introduced
• I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms outlined in the Contributor License Agreement (CLA)

[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 2 files

Confidence score: 5/5

• Automated review surfaced no issues in the provided summaries.
• No files require special attention.

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[greptile-apps]

Confidence Score: 5/5

[Medium impact] The PR appears safe to merge; it fixes the search-path mix-up without changing other file reads.

Summary

Chat now recognizes files search before treating the path as a file download.

• Chat recognizes file search and points users to grep instead.

Diagram

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart TD
  A["Chat: files search --query …"] --> B["GET /api/v2/files/search"]
  B --> C["Match searchPath before file-ID matching"]
  C --> D["403 with grep alternative"]
  D --> E["No file lookup or storage read"]

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_{Reviews (1) · Last reviewed commit: "fix(mothership): stop Chat reading files..." · Reviewed by Greptile}

[waleedlatif1]

Closing: this fix is being consolidated with the other file-provenance fixes into a single PR with one shared abstraction. The branch is kept for reference.

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1 Skipped Deployment

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated
docs	Skipped		Oct 12, 2026 6:50pm UTC