fix: remove warning when Claude/Copilot CLI is missing (#174)

* fix(sync): treat missing native CLI as informational

* feat(cli): gate info sync messages behind --verbose

* fix(native): include provider on native failures and clarify copilot path errors

Author: christso

src/cli/commands/workspace.ts

@@ -99,9 +99,10 @@ const syncCmd = command({
     offline: flag({ long: 'offline', description: 'Use cached plugins without fetching latest from remote' }),
     dryRun: flag({ long: 'dry-run', short: 'n', description: 'Simulate sync without making changes' }),
     force: flag({ long: 'force', short: 'f', description: 'Overwrite existing MCP server entries that differ from plugin config' }),
+    verbose: flag({ long: 'verbose', short: 'v', description: 'Show informational sync messages' }),
     client: option({ type: optional(string), long: 'client', short: 'c', description: 'Sync only the specified client (e.g., opencode, claude)' }),
   },
-  handler: async ({ offline, dryRun, force, client }) => {
+  handler: async ({ offline, dryRun, force, verbose, client }) => {
     try {
       if (!isJsonMode() && dryRun) {
         console.log('Dry run mode - no changes will be made\n');
@@ -210,6 +211,14 @@ const syncCmd = command({
         }
       }
 
+      // Show informational messages
+      if (verbose && result.messages && result.messages.length > 0) {
+        console.log('');
+        for (const message of result.messages) {
+          console.log(`  ${message}`);
+        }
+      }
+
       // Print MCP server sync results
       if (result.mcpResult) {
         const mcpLines = formatMcpResult(result.mcpResult);

src/cli/format-sync.ts

@@ -50,8 +50,9 @@ export function formatNativeResult(nativeResult: NativeSyncResult): string[] {
     lines.push(`  + ${plugin} (installed via native CLI)`);
   }
 
-  for (const { plugin, error } of nativeResult.pluginsFailed) {
-    lines.push(`  \u2717 ${plugin}: ${error}`);
+  for (const { client, plugin, error } of nativeResult.pluginsFailed) {
+    const provider = client ? `[${client}] ` : '';
+    lines.push(`  \u2717 ${provider}${plugin}: ${error}`);
   }
 
   for (const plugin of nativeResult.skipped) {
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ export function buildSyncData(result: SyncResult) {
     generated: result.totalGenerated,
     failed: result.totalFailed,
     skipped: result.totalSkipped,
+    ...(result.messages && result.messages.length > 0 && { messages: result.messages }),
     plugins: result.pluginResults.map((pr) => ({
       plugin: pr.plugin,
       success: pr.success,

src/cli/metadata/workspace.ts

@@ -40,12 +40,14 @@ export const syncMeta: AgentCommandMeta = {
     'allagents workspace sync --dry-run',
     'allagents workspace sync --client claude',
     'allagents workspace sync --offline',
+    'allagents workspace sync --verbose',
   ],
   expectedOutput:
     'Lists synced files with status per plugin. Exit 0 on success, exit 1 if any files failed.',
   options: [
     { flag: '--offline', type: 'boolean', description: 'Use cached plugins without fetching latest from remote' },
     { flag: '--dry-run', short: '-n', type: 'boolean', description: 'Simulate sync without making changes' },
+    { flag: '--verbose', short: '-v', type: 'boolean', description: 'Show informational sync messages' },
     { flag: '--client', short: '-c', type: 'string', description: 'Sync only the specified client (e.g., opencode, claude)' },
   ],
   outputSchema: {

src/core/native/copilot.ts

@@ -100,9 +100,13 @@ export class CopilotNativeClient implements NativeClient {
       if (installResult.success) {
         result.pluginsInstalled.push(spec);
       } else {
+        const rawError = installResult.error ?? 'Unknown error';
+        const error = rawError.includes('Plugin path escapes marketplace directory')
+          ? `${rawError} (Copilot rejected a plugin path from this marketplace manifest. Use file install for copilot to avoid native install for this plugin.)`
+          : rawError;
         result.pluginsFailed.push({
           plugin: spec,
-          error: installResult.error ?? 'Unknown error',
+          error,
         });
       }
     }

src/core/native/types.ts

@@ -6,10 +6,16 @@ export interface NativeCommandResult {
   error?: string;
 }
 
+export interface NativePluginFailure {
+  plugin: string;
+  error: string;
+  client?: string;
+}
+
 export interface NativeSyncResult {
   marketplacesAdded: string[];
   pluginsInstalled: string[];
-  pluginsFailed: { plugin: string; error: string }[];
+  pluginsFailed: NativePluginFailure[];
   skipped: string[];
 }
 

src/core/sync.ts

@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ export interface SyncResult {
   error?: string;
   /** Warnings for plugins that were skipped during sync */
   warnings?: string[];
+  /** Informational messages (non-warning) */
+  messages?: string[];
   /** Result of syncing MCP server configs to VS Code */
   mcpResult?: McpMergeResult;
   /** Result of native CLI plugin installations */
@@ -141,6 +143,7 @@ export interface SyncResult {
  */
 export function mergeSyncResults(a: SyncResult, b: SyncResult): SyncResult {
   const warnings = [...(a.warnings || []), ...(b.warnings || [])];
+  const messages = [...(a.messages || []), ...(b.messages || [])];
   const purgedPaths = [...(a.purgedPaths || []), ...(b.purgedPaths || [])];
   // Use whichever mcpResult is present (only user-scope sync produces one)
   const mcpResult = a.mcpResult ?? b.mcpResult;
@@ -161,6 +164,7 @@ export function mergeSyncResults(a: SyncResult, b: SyncResult): SyncResult {
     totalSkipped: a.totalSkipped + b.totalSkipped,
     totalGenerated: a.totalGenerated + b.totalGenerated,
     ...(warnings.length > 0 && { warnings }),
+    ...(messages.length > 0 && { messages }),
     ...(purgedPaths.length > 0 && { purgedPaths }),
     ...(mcpResult && { mcpResult }),
     ...(nativeResult && { nativeResult }),
@@ -275,6 +279,13 @@ function collectNativePluginSources(validPlugins: ValidatedPlugin[]): {
   return { pluginsByClient, marketplaceSourcesByClient };
 }
 
+function attachNativeClientContext(result: NativeSyncResult, clientType: ClientType): NativeSyncResult {
+  return {
+    ...result,
+    pluginsFailed: result.pluginsFailed.map((failure) => ({ ...failure, client: clientType })),
+  };
+}
+
 function collectSyncClients(
   clientEntries: ClientEntry[],
   plans: PluginSyncPlan[],
@@ -1316,6 +1327,7 @@ export async function syncWorkspace(
     ...planWarnings,
     ...failedValidations.map((v) => `${v.plugin}: ${v.error} (skipped)`),
   ];
+  const messages: string[] = [];
 
   // If ALL plugins failed, abort
   if (validPlugins.length === 0 && filteredPlans.length > 0) {
@@ -1412,7 +1424,7 @@ export async function syncWorkspace(
       if (!cliAvailable) {
         const sources = nativePluginsByClient.get(clientType);
         if (sources && sources.length > 0) {
-          warnings.push(`Native install: ${clientType} CLI not found, skipping native plugin installation`);
+          messages.push(`Native install: ${clientType} CLI not found, skipping native plugin installation`);
         }
         continue;
       }
@@ -1443,7 +1455,12 @@ export async function syncWorkspace(
 
       // Install
       if (currentSources.length > 0) {
-        perClientResults.push(await nativeClient.syncPlugins(currentSources, 'project', { cwd: workspacePath }));
+        perClientResults.push(
+          attachNativeClientContext(
+            await nativeClient.syncPlugins(currentSources, 'project', { cwd: workspacePath }),
+            clientType,
+          ),
+        );
       }
     }
 
@@ -1455,7 +1472,12 @@ export async function syncWorkspace(
     for (const [clientType, sources] of nativePluginsByClient) {
       const nativeClient = getNativeClient(clientType);
       if (nativeClient && sources.length > 0) {
-        perClientResults.push(await nativeClient.syncPlugins(sources, 'project', { cwd: workspacePath, dryRun: true }));
+        perClientResults.push(
+          attachNativeClientContext(
+            await nativeClient.syncPlugins(sources, 'project', { cwd: workspacePath, dryRun: true }),
+            clientType,
+          ),
+        );
       }
     }
     if (perClientResults.length > 0) {
@@ -1654,6 +1676,7 @@ export async function syncWorkspace(
     totalGenerated,
     purgedPaths,
     ...(warnings.length > 0 && { warnings }),
+    ...(messages.length > 0 && { messages }),
     ...(nativeResult && { nativeResult }),
   };
 }
@@ -1702,6 +1725,7 @@ export async function syncUserWorkspace(
     ...planWarnings,
     ...failedValidations.map((v) => `${v.plugin}: ${v.error} (skipped)`),
   ];
+  const messages: string[] = [];
 
   // If ALL plugins failed, abort
   if (validPlugins.length === 0 && pluginPlans.length > 0) {
@@ -1808,7 +1832,7 @@ export async function syncUserWorkspace(
       if (!cliAvailable) {
         const sources = nativePluginsByClient.get(clientType);
         if (sources && sources.length > 0) {
-          warnings.push(`Native install: ${clientType} CLI not found, skipping native plugin installation`);
+          messages.push(`Native install: ${clientType} CLI not found, skipping native plugin installation`);
         }
         continue;
       }
@@ -1838,7 +1862,12 @@ export async function syncUserWorkspace(
 
       // Install
       if (currentSources.length > 0) {
-        perClientResults.push(await nativeClient.syncPlugins(currentSources, 'user'));
+        perClientResults.push(
+          attachNativeClientContext(
+            await nativeClient.syncPlugins(currentSources, 'user'),
+            clientType,
+          ),
+        );
       }
     }
 
@@ -1850,7 +1879,12 @@ export async function syncUserWorkspace(
     for (const [clientType, sources] of nativePluginsByClient) {
       const nativeClient = getNativeClient(clientType);
       if (nativeClient && sources.length > 0) {
-        perClientResults.push(await nativeClient.syncPlugins(sources, 'user', { dryRun: true }));
+        perClientResults.push(
+          attachNativeClientContext(
+            await nativeClient.syncPlugins(sources, 'user', { dryRun: true }),
+            clientType,
+          ),
+        );
       }
     }
     if (perClientResults.length > 0) {
@@ -1891,6 +1925,7 @@ export async function syncUserWorkspace(
     totalSkipped,
     totalGenerated,
     ...(warnings.length > 0 && { warnings }),
+    ...(messages.length > 0 && { messages }),
     ...(mcpResult && { mcpResult }),
     ...(nativeResult && { nativeResult }),
   };

tests/unit/cli/agent-help.test.ts

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ describe('agent command metadata', () => {
   test('workspace sync has expected options', () => {
     const syncCmd = allCommands.find((c) => c.command === 'workspace sync')!;
     expect(syncCmd.options).toBeInstanceOf(Array);
-    expect(syncCmd.options!.length).toBe(3);
+    expect(syncCmd.options!.length).toBe(4);
 
     const dryRun = syncCmd.options!.find((o) => o.flag === '--dry-run');
     expect(dryRun).toBeDefined();
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ describe('agent command metadata', () => {
     expect(client).toBeDefined();
     expect(client!.type).toBe('string');
     expect(client!.short).toBe('-c');
+
+    const verbose = syncCmd.options!.find((o) => o.flag === '--verbose');
+    expect(verbose).toBeDefined();
+    expect(verbose!.type).toBe('boolean');
+    expect(verbose!.short).toBe('-v');
   });
 
   test('plugin install has required positional', () => {

tests/unit/cli/format-sync.test.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
-import { formatMcpResult } from '../../../src/cli/format-sync.js';
+import { formatMcpResult, formatNativeResult } from '../../../src/cli/format-sync.js';
 import type { McpMergeResult } from '../../../src/core/vscode-mcp.js';
+import type { NativeSyncResult } from '../../../src/core/native/types.js';
 
 function makeResult(overrides: Partial<McpMergeResult> = {}): McpMergeResult {
   return {
@@ -67,3 +68,20 @@ describe('formatMcpResult', () => {
     expect(lines.some((l) => l.includes('File modified'))).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+describe('formatNativeResult', () => {
+  test('includes provider name when present on failed native installs', () => {
+    const result: NativeSyncResult = {
+      marketplacesAdded: [],
+      pluginsInstalled: [],
+      pluginsFailed: [
+        { client: 'copilot', plugin: 'glow@wtg-ai-prompts', error: 'boom' },
+      ],
+      skipped: [],
+    };
+
+    expect(formatNativeResult(result)).toEqual([
+      '  ✗ [copilot] glow@wtg-ai-prompts: boom',
+    ]);
+  });
+});

tests/unit/core/sync-merge.test.ts

@@ -76,6 +76,29 @@ describe('mergeSyncResults', () => {
     expect(merged.warnings).toEqual(['warn1', 'warn2']);
   });
 
+  test('merges messages from both results', () => {
+    const a: SyncResult = {
+      success: true,
+      pluginResults: [],
+      totalCopied: 0,
+      totalFailed: 0,
+      totalSkipped: 0,
+      totalGenerated: 0,
+      messages: ['msg1'],
+    };
+    const b: SyncResult = {
+      success: true,
+      pluginResults: [],
+      totalCopied: 0,
+      totalFailed: 0,
+      totalSkipped: 0,
+      totalGenerated: 0,
+      messages: ['msg2'],
+    };
+    const merged = mergeSyncResults(a, b);
+    expect(merged.messages).toEqual(['msg1', 'msg2']);
+  });
+
   test('merges nativeResult from both results', () => {
     const a: SyncResult = {
       success: true,