## The crash
`task status <id>` threw `TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined
(reading 'join')` in the Assignment section. Lines in task.ts did
`result.dependencies.join(', ')`, `result.dependents.join(', ')`,
`result.tags.join(', ')` — `callMCPTool<{ dependencies: string[]; ... }>()`
types those as non-optional arrays, but the MCP server legitimately omits
them for tasks created via task_create or loaded from an older store
schema. The TS compiler can't see the risk; only running the command does.
Fix: `?.join(', ') || 'None'` at all five sites (the inline `task status`
formatter at ~206 + the detailed one at ~441). `assignedTo` was already
guarded; the others weren't.
## CI guard (the user's ask: "ensure this type of error is caught")
New plugins/ruflo-core/scripts/test-cli-no-crash.mjs — drives
`task create` → `task status <id>` plus `task list` / `agent list` /
`memory list` / `swarm status`, asserting none crash with an unhandled
exception (TypeError/ReferenceError/"Cannot read propert"/etc). Graceful
"not found" errors are fine; only unhandled crash stacks fail the gate.
Per-command 30s timeout + 90s process-level watchdog so CI never hangs.
Tried a static grep-based guard first (`obj.prop.arrayMethod()` without
`?.`) — too noisy: 285 hits, mostly legit. Behavioral smoke is the right
shape: it catches the actual crash class, not the syntactic pattern.
Wired as a step in the existing mcp-roundtrip-smoke job (already builds
the cli + has the watchdog discipline).
Local: smoke green — confirms `task status` on a fresh task no longer crashes.
Closes#1863
Co-Authored-By: RuFlo <ruv@ruv.net>
Reuven