fix: Windows Unicode encoding error in CLI help command (fixes #1543) (#1545)

* fix: Windows Unicode encoding error in CLI help command (fixes #1543)

- Detect Windows legacy encoding (CP1252, CP850, etc.) in Rich Console initialization
- Create console with safe Windows options: legacy_windows=True, safe_box=True, emoji=False
- Set PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8 for subprocess safety
- Add UnicodeEncodeError handling in Typer runner with helpful error message
- Add ASCII fallback in print methods for encoding failures

This ensures 'praisonai --help' works on Windows default terminals without crashing.

Co-authored-by: praisonai-triage-agent[bot] <praisonai-triage-agent[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

* fix: address critical encoding detection and UnicodeEncodeError protection issues

- Fix overly broad 'cp' in encoding check to exclude cp65001 (Windows UTF-8 codepage)
- Add UnicodeEncodeError protection to all print_* methods with emoji literals
- Change --help exit code from 1 to 0 on encoding failure (conventional behavior)
- Add fallback handling for Rich console failures in all output methods

Resolves P1 issues identified by code reviewers while maintaining backward compatibility.

Co-authored-by: Mervin Praison <MervinPraison@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: praisonai-triage-agent[bot] <272766704+praisonai-triage-agent[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: praisonai-triage-agent[bot] <praisonai-triage-agent[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Mervin Praison <MervinPraison@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: praisonai-triage-agent[bot]

src/praisonai/praisonai/__main__.py

@@ -72,13 +72,28 @@ def _find_first_command(argv):
 
 def _run_typer(argv):
     """Dispatch to the Typer CLI app."""
+    import os
+    
+    # Set up safer encoding for Windows legacy terminals
+    if sys.platform == "win32" and hasattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding'):
+        encoding = getattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding', '').lower()
+        if encoding in ('cp1252', 'cp1251', 'cp850', 'ascii') or ('cp' in encoding and encoding != 'cp65001'):
+            # Force UTF-8 mode for subprocess safety
+            if 'PYTHONIOENCODING' not in os.environ:
+                os.environ['PYTHONIOENCODING'] = 'utf-8'
+    
     from praisonai.cli.app import app, register_commands
     register_commands()  # idempotent
 
     original = sys.argv
     sys.argv = ["praisonai"] + list(argv)
     try:
         app()
+    except UnicodeEncodeError as e:
+        # Handle Unicode encoding errors gracefully
+        print("Error: Unable to display help due to terminal encoding limitations.", file=sys.stderr)
+        print("Try setting: $env:PYTHONIOENCODING='utf-8' (PowerShell) or set PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8 (cmd)", file=sys.stderr)
+        sys.exit(0)
     except SystemExit as e:
         sys.exit(e.code if isinstance(e.code, int) else 0)
     finally:

src/praisonai/praisonai/cli/output/console.py

@@ -40,7 +40,36 @@ def _get_console():
     global _console
     if _console is None and _get_rich_available():
         from rich.console import Console
-        _console = Console()
+        import sys
+        import os
+        
+        # Detect Windows legacy encoding (CP1252) and use safe fallback
+        if sys.platform == "win32" and hasattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding'):
+            encoding = getattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding', '').lower()
+            # Check for Windows legacy code pages that can't handle Unicode
+            if encoding in ('cp1252', 'cp1251', 'cp850', 'ascii') or ('cp' in encoding and encoding != 'cp65001'):
+                # Force UTF-8 mode or create console with safe encoding handling
+                try:
+                    # Set PYTHONIOENCODING to utf-8 for subprocess safety (won't affect current process)
+                    if 'PYTHONIOENCODING' not in os.environ:
+                        os.environ['PYTHONIOENCODING'] = 'utf-8'
+                    
+                    # Create console with safe encoding options
+                    _console = Console(
+                        force_terminal=True,
+                        legacy_windows=True,  # Use legacy Windows mode
+                        safe_box=True,        # Use safe box characters
+                        emoji=False,          # Disable emojis on Windows legacy
+                        color_system='standard',  # Use basic colors
+                        _environ=os.environ   # Pass updated environment
+                    )
+                except Exception:
+                    # Fallback to basic console if Rich options fail
+                    _console = Console(force_terminal=False, no_color=True)
+            else:
+                _console = Console()
+        else:
+            _console = Console()
     return _console
 
 
@@ -137,6 +166,19 @@ def is_screen_reader(self) -> bool:
         """Check if in screen reader mode."""
         return self.mode == OutputMode.SCREEN_READER
 
+    def _safe_console_print(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
+        """Safely print to console with UnicodeEncodeError protection."""
+        if self.console:
+            try:
+                self.console.print(*args, **kwargs)
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                # Fallback to plain text if Rich can't handle the encoding
+                message = str(args[0]) if args else ""
+                print(message.encode('ascii', 'replace').decode('ascii'))
+        else:
+            message = str(args[0]) if args else ""
+            print(message)
+    
     def print(self, message: str, style: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs) -> None:
         """Print a message respecting the current mode."""
         if self.is_quiet:
@@ -150,11 +192,8 @@ def print(self, message: str, style: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs) -> None:
             # Plain text output
             print(message)
         else:
-            # Rich formatted output
-            if self.console:
-                self.console.print(message, style=style, **kwargs)
-            else:
-                print(message)
+            # Rich formatted output with encoding safety
+            self._safe_console_print(message, style=style, **kwargs)
 
     def print_error(self, message: str, code: Optional[str] = None, remediation: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
         """Print an error message with optional remediation."""
@@ -187,10 +226,16 @@ def print_error(self, message: str, code: Optional[str] = None, remediation: Opt
             if remediation:
                 content.append(f"\n💡 Fix: {remediation}", style="yellow")
 
-            if self.console:
-                self.console.print(Panel(content, title="Error", border_style="red"))
-            else:
+            try:
+                if self.console:
+                    self.console.print(Panel(content, title="Error", border_style="red"))
+                else:
+                    print(f"ERROR: {message}", file=sys.stderr)
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                # Fallback to plain text if emoji rendering fails
                 print(f"ERROR: {message}", file=sys.stderr)
+                if remediation:
+                    print(f"FIX: {remediation}", file=sys.stderr)
 
     def print_success(self, message: str, data: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> None:
         """Print a success message."""
@@ -214,7 +259,10 @@ def print_success(self, message: str, data: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) ->
         if self.is_screen_reader or self.no_color or not _get_rich_available():
             print(f"SUCCESS: {message}")
         else:
-            self.print(f"✅ {message}", style="bold green")
+            try:
+                self.print(f"✅ {message}", style="bold green")
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                print(f"SUCCESS: {message}")
 
     def print_warning(self, message: str) -> None:
         """Print a warning message."""
@@ -224,7 +272,10 @@ def print_warning(self, message: str) -> None:
         if self.is_screen_reader or self.no_color or not _get_rich_available():
             print(f"WARNING: {message}")
         else:
-            self.print(f"⚠️  {message}", style="bold yellow")
+            try:
+                self.print(f"⚠️  {message}", style="bold yellow")
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                print(f"WARNING: {message}")
 
     def print_info(self, message: str) -> None:
         """Print an info message."""
@@ -234,7 +285,10 @@ def print_info(self, message: str) -> None:
         if self.is_screen_reader or self.no_color or not _get_rich_available():
             print(f"INFO: {message}")
         else:
-            self.print(f"ℹ️  {message}", style="bold blue")
+            try:
+                self.print(f"ℹ️  {message}", style="bold blue")
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                print(f"INFO: {message}")
 
     def print_debug(self, message: str) -> None:
         """Print a debug message (only in verbose mode)."""
@@ -244,7 +298,10 @@ def print_debug(self, message: str) -> None:
         if self.is_screen_reader or self.no_color or not _get_rich_available():
             print(f"DEBUG: {message}")
         else:
-            self.print(f"🔍 {message}", style="dim")
+            try:
+                self.print(f"🔍 {message}", style="dim")
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                print(f"DEBUG: {message}")
 
     def emit_event(self, event_type: str, message: Optional[str] = None, data: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None, agent_id: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
         """Emit a stream event (for stream-json mode)."""
@@ -321,7 +378,28 @@ def print_table(self, headers: List[str], rows: List[List[Any]], title: Optional
                 table.add_row(*[str(cell) for cell in row])
 
             if self.console:
-                self.console.print(table)
+                try:
+                    self.console.print(table)
+                except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                    # Fallback to plain text table if Rich fails
+                    if title:
+                        print(f"\n{title}")
+                        print("-" * len(title))
+                    
+                    # Calculate column widths
+                    widths = [len(h) for h in headers]
+                    for row in rows:
+                        for i, cell in enumerate(row):
+                            widths[i] = max(widths[i], len(str(cell)))
+                    
+                    # Print header
+                    header_line = " | ".join(h.ljust(widths[i]) for i, h in enumerate(headers))
+                    print(header_line)
+                    print("-" * len(header_line))
+                    
+                    # Print rows
+                    for row in rows:
+                        print(" | ".join(str(cell).ljust(widths[i]) for i, cell in enumerate(row)))
 
     def print_panel(self, content: str, title: Optional[str] = None, style: str = "cyan") -> None:
         """Print a panel."""
@@ -338,7 +416,15 @@ def print_panel(self, content: str, title: Optional[str] = None, style: str = "c
             from rich.panel import Panel
 
             if self.console:
-                self.console.print(Panel(content, title=title, border_style=style))
+                try:
+                    self.console.print(Panel(content, title=title, border_style=style))
+                except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                    # Fallback to plain text if panel rendering fails
+                    if title:
+                        print(f"\n=== {title} ===")
+                    print(content)
+                    if title:
+                        print("=" * (len(title) + 8))
 
     def get_events(self) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
         """Get all collected events."""