diff --git a/‎.changeset/21542-refusal-renders-once.md‎
Lines changed: 13 additions & 0 deletions b/‎.changeset/21542-refusal-renders-once.md‎
Lines changed: 13 additions & 0 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/src/commands/compile.ts‎
Lines changed: 12 additions & 4 deletions b/‎packages/cli/src/commands/compile.ts‎
Lines changed: 12 additions & 4 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts‎
Lines changed: 17 additions & 9 deletions b/‎packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts‎
Lines changed: 17 additions & 9 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/cli/test/exit-signal.pin.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 14 additions & 11 deletions b/‎packages/cli/test/exit-signal.pin.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 14 additions & 11 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/cli': patch
+---
+
+fix(cli): `os init` and `os compile` render each refusal once, not once on stdout and again as oclif's `Error:` block on stderr (#21542)
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+`os init demo -t bogus` printed `✗ Unknown template: bogus` on stdout, then the same sentence as oclif's `Error:` block on stderr, and exited 2. Ten refusals did it: the five `os init` makes before it writes anything (an unknown template, a project name that is not valid, a target directory that is not empty, a current directory whose name is not a valid project name, an `objectstack.config.ts` that already exists), its scaffold self-test and dependency install, its catch-all, and `os compile`'s runtime-bundle refusal and catch-all (`os build` inherits both). Each printed its own `✗` line and then handed the sentence to `this.error`, which has oclif's entry point render it again.
+
+Each now prints its `✗` line and the hint under it once, and ends in `this.exit(2)`: the status `this.error` raised, with nothing rendered by the entry point. Stdout carries the same lines as before; stderr no longer repeats them. Exit statuses are unchanged: 2 for all ten.
+
+A script that read the sentence from stderr, from the `Error:` block, now finds it on stdout, on the `✗` line, which is where the full wording and the hint always were.
@@ -1041,9 +1041,14 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {
               await emitJson({ success: false, error: `runtime bundle failed: ${err.message}`, warnings: warningsSoFar(), conversions: conversionNotices }, 0, { compact: true });
               this.exit(1);
             }
+            // The `✗` line below is this refusal's one rendering. It used to end
+            // in `this.error(err.message)`, which has oclif's entry point render
+            // the same message again as an `Error:` block on stderr; `this.exit(2)`
+            // raises the same signal with the status `this.error` raised, and
+            // renders nothing.
             console.log('');
             printError(`Runtime bundle failed: ${err.message}`);
-            this.error(err.message);
+            this.exit(2);
           }
         }
       }
@@ -1204,17 +1209,20 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {
       printAdvisoriesOnce();
       // [#15547] `resolveConfigPath()` already wrote its refusal and hint lines
       // to stderr before throwing, so this face has nothing left to render —
-      // and `this.error()` below is NOT a no-op for it: it re-renders the same
-      // sentence as an oclif `›   Error:` block AND raises this face's exit
+      // and an oclif `this.error()` here is NOT a no-op for it: it re-renders
+      // the same sentence as an `›   Error:` block AND raises this face's exit
       // status from 1 to 2. Measured on the published entry, `os compile
       // ./missing.ts` (and `os build`, which inherits this catch): exit 2 with
       // 483 stderr bytes, where the other eight faces answer exit 1 with 296.
       // `this.exit(1)` throws the ExitError the `--json` branch already relies
       // on, so the status and the bytes both stay where they were.
       if (isReportedError(error)) this.exit(1);
+      // Any other failure is rendered here, once, by `printError`, and ends in
+      // `this.exit(2)`: the status the `this.error()` that stood here raised
+      // (its entry-point `Error:` block was the same sentence a second time).
       console.log('');
       printError(error.message || String(error));
-      this.error(error.message || String(error));
+      this.exit(2);
     }
   }
 }
@@ -1148,10 +1148,18 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
     const startCwd = process.cwd();
     const template = TEMPLATES[flags.template];
 
+    // Every refusal in this command renders its sentence ONCE: the `✗` line it
+    // prints itself, with the hint under it, and then `this.exit(2)`. It used to
+    // end in `this.error(<the same sentence>)`, which hands oclif's entry point
+    // the sentence to render a second time as an `Error:` block on stderr — one
+    // refusal read twice across two streams. `this.exit(n)` raises the same
+    // signal and renders nothing, and `2` is the status `this.error` raised, so
+    // the exit status is unchanged. That is the split `isReportedError` guards
+    // (`utils/format.ts`): one rendering per refusal.
     if (!template) {
       printError(`Unknown template: ${flags.template}`);
       console.log(chalk.dim(`  Available: ${Object.keys(TEMPLATES).join(', ')}`));
-      this.error(`Unknown template: ${flags.template}`);
+      this.exit(2);
     }
 
     // Resolve target directory + project name.
@@ -1169,7 +1177,7 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
       const nameError = validateProjectName(args.name);
       if (nameError) {
         printError(nameError);
-        this.error(nameError);
+        this.exit(2);
       }
       projectName = args.name;
       targetDir = path.resolve(startCwd, args.name);
@@ -1179,7 +1187,7 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
           const msg = `Target directory ${targetDir} is not empty`;
           printError(msg);
           console.log(chalk.dim('  Choose a different name or remove the existing directory first.'));
-          this.error(msg);
+          this.exit(2);
         }
       } else {
         fs.mkdirSync(targetDir, { recursive: true });
@@ -1191,15 +1199,15 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
       if (nameError) {
         printError(`Current directory name "${projectName}" is not a valid project name. ${nameError}`);
         console.log(chalk.dim('  Re-run with an explicit name: `objectstack init my-app`'));
-        this.error(nameError);
+        this.exit(2);
       }
     }
 
     // Check for existing config
     if (fs.existsSync(path.join(targetDir, 'objectstack.config.ts'))) {
       printError(`objectstack.config.ts already exists in ${targetDir}`);
       console.log(chalk.dim('  Use `objectstack generate` to add metadata to an existing project'));
-      this.error('objectstack.config.ts already exists');
+      this.exit(2);
     }
 
     // Convert the npm-name (which allows hyphens, dots, scopes) into a
@@ -1357,7 +1365,7 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
 
         if (scaffoldRejected) {
           console.log(chalk.dim('  This is a CLI bug — please report it at https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack/issues'));
-          this.error('Scaffold validation failed');
+          this.exit(2);
         }
       }
 
@@ -1386,16 +1394,16 @@ export default class Init extends Command {
         }
         console.log(chalk.dim(`    ${chosenPm} install`));
         console.log('');
-        this.error('Dependency installation failed');
+        this.exit(2);
       }
 
     } catch (error: any) {
       // The two refusals above (scaffold self-test, dependency install) already
-      // printed their `✗` line and raised the exit signal with `this.error`.
+      // printed their `✗` line and raised the exit signal with `this.exit(2)`.
       // Re-reporting it here printed the refusal a second time.
       if (isExitSignal(error)) throw error;
       printError(error.message || String(error));
-      this.error(error.message || String(error));
+      this.exit(2);
     }
   }
 }
@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@
  *   directory a scratch directory. Each case asserts the two things an operator
  *   reads: the refusal is ONE `✗` line with no `EEXIT` anywhere in the output,
  *   and the exit status, unchanged by the repair — 1 for the `this.exit(1)`
- *   refusals, 2 for `os init`'s `this.error` ones.
+ *   refusals, 2 for `os init`'s `this.exit(2)` ones (the status its `this.error`
+ *   refusals raised, until they rendered their sentence once:
+ *   `refusal-renders-once.test.ts` and its `.e2e` twin).
  *
  * ## Tier
  *
@@ -480,7 +482,9 @@ const FLOW = new Map(
  * `bee8d1c62c` over the same 65 commands: the 127 `this.exit` sites, plus
  * four `this.error` sites — `compile.ts`'s bundling refusal, counted for
  * `os compile` and again for `os build` through it, and `os init`'s two
- * refusals inside its outer `try`.
+ * refusals inside its outer `try`. Those four sites now spell `this.exit(2)`
+ * (the status `this.error` raised, with the sentence rendered once): both
+ * spellings are seeds, so the floor is unchanged.
  */
 const POPULATION_FLOOR = 65;
 const SITE_FLOOR = 131;
@@ -648,14 +652,13 @@ describe('every command lets the exit signal through', () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("the scan reaches the `this.error` seed — `os init`'s two refusals inside its outer try, and `os compile`'s bundling refusal", () => {
-    const errorCalls = (id: string) => FLOW.get(id)?.sites.map((s) => s.call).filter((call) => call.startsWith('this.error(')) ?? [];
-    expect(errorCalls('init')).toEqual(expect.arrayContaining([
-      "this.error('Scaffold validation failed')",
-      "this.error('Dependency installation failed')",
-    ]));
+  it("the scan reaches `os init`'s two refusals inside its outer try, and `os compile`'s bundling refusal — each ends in `this.exit(2)`", () => {
+    const refusalCalls = (id: string) => FLOW.get(id)?.sites.map((s) => s.call).filter((call) => call === 'this.exit(2)') ?? [];
+    // Scaffold self-test and dependency install: both sit inside the outer `try`
+    // whose `catch` must let the signal through, so both are sites.
+    expect(refusalCalls('init'), 'os init').toHaveLength(2);
     // Inherited: `os build` is judged on `compile.ts`'s site as well.
-    for (const id of ['compile', 'build']) expect(errorCalls(id), `os ${id}`).toContain('this.error(err.message)');
+    for (const id of ['compile', 'build']) expect(refusalCalls(id), `os ${id}`).toHaveLength(1);
   });
 
   it.each(POPULATION.map((c) => [c.id, c.faces.join(' | ')]))('os %s (%s)', (id) => {
@@ -961,8 +964,8 @@ async function driveText(cmd: Runnable, argv: string[], cwd?: string): Promise<D
 
 /**
  * The refusal is reported ONCE, the signal is never named, and the status is
- * the one it always was: 1 for a `this.exit(1)` refusal, 2 for a `this.error`
- * one (oclif's default, which `os init` never overrides). `subject` is what
+ * the one it always was: 1 for a `this.exit(1)` refusal, 2 for `os init`'s
+ * `this.exit(2)` ones (what its `this.error` refusals raised). `subject` is what
  * the one line must be about — a path, a URL or an error the case chose, never
  * the refusal's wording.
  */
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -1041,9 +1041,14 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {`
`1041`	`1041`	await emitJson({ success: false, error: `runtime bundle failed: ${err.message}`, warnings: warningsSoFar(), conversions: conversionNotices }, 0, { compact: true });
`1042`	`1042`	`this.exit(1);`
`1043`	`1043`	`}`
	`1044`	+ // The `✗` line below is this refusal's one rendering. It used to end
	`1045`	+ // in `this.error(err.message)`, which has oclif's entry point render
	`1046`	+ // the same message again as an `Error:` block on stderr; `this.exit(2)`
	`1047`	+ // raises the same signal with the status `this.error` raised, and
	`1048`	`+ // renders nothing.`
`1044`	`1049`	`console.log('');`
`1045`	`1050`	printError(`Runtime bundle failed: ${err.message}`);
`1046`		`- this.error(err.message);`
	`1051`	`+ this.exit(2);`
`1047`	`1052`	`}`
`1048`	`1053`	`}`
`1049`	`1054`	`}`
`@@ -1204,17 +1209,20 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {`
`1204`	`1209`	`printAdvisoriesOnce();`
`1205`	`1210`	// [#15547] `resolveConfigPath()` already wrote its refusal and hint lines
`1206`	`1211`	`// to stderr before throwing, so this face has nothing left to render —`
`1207`		- // and `this.error()` below is NOT a no-op for it: it re-renders the same
`1208`		- // sentence as an oclif `› Error:` block AND raises this face's exit
	`1212`	+ // and an oclif `this.error()` here is NOT a no-op for it: it re-renders
	`1213`	+ // the same sentence as an `› Error:` block AND raises this face's exit
`1209`	`1214`	// status from 1 to 2. Measured on the published entry, `os compile
`1210`	`1215`	// ./missing.ts` (and `os build`, which inherits this catch): exit 2 with
`1211`	`1216`	`// 483 stderr bytes, where the other eight faces answer exit 1 with 296.`
`1212`	`1217`	// `this.exit(1)` throws the ExitError the `--json` branch already relies
`1213`	`1218`	`// on, so the status and the bytes both stay where they were.`
`1214`	`1219`	`if (isReportedError(error)) this.exit(1);`
	`1220`	+ // Any other failure is rendered here, once, by `printError`, and ends in
	`1221`	+ // `this.exit(2)`: the status the `this.error()` that stood here raised
	`1222`	+ // (its entry-point `Error:` block was the same sentence a second time).
`1215`	`1223`	`console.log('');`
`1216`	`1224`	`printError(error.message \|\| String(error));`
`1217`		`- this.error(error.message \|\| String(error));`
	`1225`	`+ this.exit(2);`
`1218`	`1226`	`}`
`1219`	`1227`	`}`
`1220`	`1228`	`}`