feat(cli): install-hooks --classifier-command flag (v0.2.5)

0.2.4 shipped TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI but expected users to set it via
~/.bashrc, which Claude Code never sources for hook subprocesses.
Move the wiring into install-hooks so the same command that writes
the hook entries also writes env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI to settings.json.

Behavior:
- `task-journal install-hooks --classifier-command "aimux run dt"`
  → adds env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI=aimux run dt to settings.json
- flag omitted → no env block touched (default classifier = bare claude)
- --uninstall removes TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI; preserves unrelated env keys;
  drops env block if it becomes empty

3 new integration tests cover the flag, the no-flag default, and
uninstall preservation. Closes claude-memory-tvx.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Shahinyanm

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json

@@ -6,14 +6,14 @@
   },
   "metadata": {
     "description": "Task Journal — append-only reasoning chain memory for AI-coding tasks",
-    "version": "0.2.4"
+    "version": "0.2.5"
   },
   "plugins": [
     {
       "name": "task-journal",
       "source": "./plugin",
       "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains. Captures hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence — renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
-      "version": "0.2.4",
+      "version": "0.2.5",
       "author": {
         "name": "Digital-Threads"
       },

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,34 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.2.5] - 2026-05-07
+
+DX improvement: ship classifier-wrapper config through `install-hooks` —
+no more manual `bashrc` / `settings.json` edits to use `aimux`, `direnv`,
+`nix run`, etc.
+
+### Added
+- `task-journal install-hooks --classifier-command "<CMD>"` flag.
+  Writes `env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI=<CMD>` into the same `settings.json`
+  that already gets the hook entries. Claude Code reads the `env` block
+  at startup and propagates the variable to hook subprocesses.
+  Example:
+  ```bash
+  task-journal install-hooks --classifier-command "aimux run dt"
+  ```
+  When the flag is omitted, no `env` block is touched — default
+  classifier remains the bare `claude` binary.
+- `--uninstall` now also strips `TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI` from `env`,
+  preserving any unrelated env keys and dropping the `env` block
+  if it becomes empty.
+
+### Fixed
+- 0.2.4's instructions told users to set `TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI` via
+  `~/.bashrc`, but Claude Code starts hook subprocesses outside an
+  interactive bash, so the env var was invisible to the classifier
+  and 401s kept piling up in `pending/`. The `--classifier-command`
+  flag closes that loop end-to-end.
+
 ## [0.2.4] - 2026-05-07
 
 Hotfix: support workspace-orchestrator wrappers (aimux, nix-shell, etc).

Cargo.lock

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ members = [
 ]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.2.4"
+version = "0.2.5"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.83"
 license = "MIT"

Cargo.toml

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ name = "task-journal"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.2.4", path = "../tj-core" }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.2.5", path = "../tj-core" }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 clap = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }

crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml

@@ -650,6 +650,11 @@ enum Commands {
         /// Remove our hook entries instead of installing.
         #[arg(long)]
         uninstall: bool,
+        /// Override classifier command. Writes env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI into settings.json
+        /// so wrappers (aimux, litellm, etc.) work without manual env setup.
+        /// Default: classifier uses `claude -p`.
+        #[arg(long)]
+        classifier_command: Option<String>,
     },
     /// Show local classifier and journal statistics.
     Stats,
@@ -941,7 +946,11 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
             writer.flush_durable()?;
             println!("{}", event.event_id);
         }
-        Commands::InstallHooks { scope, uninstall } => {
+        Commands::InstallHooks {
+            scope,
+            uninstall,
+            classifier_command,
+        } => {
             let settings_path = match scope.as_str() {
                 "user" => {
                     let home =
@@ -971,6 +980,14 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                 .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("settings is not a JSON object"))?;
             if uninstall {
                 hooks_obj.remove("hooks");
+                // Remove our env key too — preserve other env entries.
+                if let Some(env) = hooks_obj.get_mut("env").and_then(|v| v.as_object_mut()) {
+                    env.remove("TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI");
+                    // Drop empty env block to keep settings.json clean.
+                    if env.is_empty() {
+                        hooks_obj.remove("env");
+                    }
+                }
             } else {
                 // Wrap with `|| true` so a failed classifier (network down, rate limit,
                 // missing API key) NEVER breaks Claude Code. Failures land in pending/
@@ -984,6 +1001,23 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                     "Stop":            [{ "matcher": "", "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": cmd }] }],
                 });
                 hooks_obj.insert("hooks".into(), entries);
+
+                // Optional: set env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI for users running classifier
+                // through a wrapper (aimux, litellm, etc.). Claude Code reads this
+                // env block and propagates the var to hook subprocesses, so users
+                // don't need to mess with bashrc.
+                if let Some(cmd) = classifier_command {
+                    let env = hooks_obj
+                        .entry("env".to_string())
+                        .or_insert_with(|| serde_json::json!({}));
+                    let env_obj = env
+                        .as_object_mut()
+                        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("settings.env is not a JSON object"))?;
+                    env_obj.insert(
+                        "TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI".to_string(),
+                        serde_json::Value::String(cmd),
+                    );
+                }
             }
             std::fs::write(&settings_path, serde_json::to_string_pretty(&current)?)?;
             println!("{}", settings_path.display());

crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs

@@ -850,6 +850,98 @@ fn install_hooks_is_idempotent_and_uninstall_works() {
     assert!(!after_uninstall.contains("UserPromptSubmit"));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn install_hooks_with_classifier_command_writes_env() {
+    let dir = assert_fs::TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("HOME", dir.path())
+        .args([
+            "install-hooks",
+            "--scope",
+            "user",
+            "--classifier-command",
+            "aimux run dt",
+        ])
+        .assert()
+        .success();
+    let content = std::fs::read_to_string(dir.path().join(".claude/settings.json")).unwrap();
+    let v: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&content).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        v.get("env")
+            .and_then(|e| e.get("TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI"))
+            .and_then(|s| s.as_str()),
+        Some("aimux run dt"),
+        "env.TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI must be set: {content}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn install_hooks_without_classifier_command_does_not_set_env() {
+    let dir = assert_fs::TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("HOME", dir.path())
+        .args(["install-hooks", "--scope", "user"])
+        .assert()
+        .success();
+    let content = std::fs::read_to_string(dir.path().join(".claude/settings.json")).unwrap();
+    let v: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&content).unwrap();
+    assert!(
+        v.get("env")
+            .and_then(|e| e.get("TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI"))
+            .is_none(),
+        "TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI must NOT be present when flag not passed: {content}"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn install_hooks_uninstall_removes_classifier_env_but_preserves_others() {
+    let dir = assert_fs::TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let claude_dir = dir.path().join(".claude");
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&claude_dir).unwrap();
+    std::fs::write(
+        claude_dir.join("settings.json"),
+        serde_json::json!({ "env": { "OTHER_KEY": "keep_me" } }).to_string(),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("HOME", dir.path())
+        .args([
+            "install-hooks",
+            "--scope",
+            "user",
+            "--classifier-command",
+            "aimux run dt",
+        ])
+        .assert()
+        .success();
+    Command::cargo_bin("task-journal")
+        .unwrap()
+        .env("HOME", dir.path())
+        .args(["install-hooks", "--scope", "user", "--uninstall"])
+        .assert()
+        .success();
+
+    let after = std::fs::read_to_string(claude_dir.join("settings.json")).unwrap();
+    let v: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_str(&after).unwrap();
+    assert!(
+        v.get("env")
+            .and_then(|e| e.get("TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI"))
+            .is_none(),
+        "TJ_CLASSIFIER_CLI must be removed on uninstall: {after}"
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        v.get("env")
+            .and_then(|e| e.get("OTHER_KEY"))
+            .and_then(|s| s.as_str()),
+        Some("keep_me"),
+        "unrelated env keys must be preserved: {after}"
+    );
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn ingest_hook_drains_pending_queue_via_mock() {
     let dir = assert_fs::TempDir::new().unwrap();

crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ name = "task-journal-mcp"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.2.4", path = "../tj-core" }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.2.5", path = "../tj-core" }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 tokio = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }

crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "task-journal",
-  "version": "0.2.4",
+  "version": "0.2.5",
   "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains: hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence. Renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Mher Shahinyan"

plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "task-journal",
-  "version": "0.2.4",
+  "version": "0.2.5",
   "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains. Captures hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence — renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Mher Shahinyan",