From 05ba1335d93a2b525966f889cbf0080d5e57809c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:21:10 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: tolerate qa cli json startup logs

---
 .../src/suite-runtime-agent-process.test.ts   | 90 +++++++++++++++++--
 .../qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.ts | 46 +++++++++-
 2 files changed, 126 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.test.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.test.ts
index 2eec215ab13..344ea7940b0 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.test.ts
@@ -29,16 +29,26 @@ import {
   waitForMemorySearchMatch,
 } from "./suite-runtime-agent-process.js";
 
+type MockEmitter = {
+  emit: (eventName: string | symbol, ...args: unknown[]) => boolean;
+  on: (eventName: string | symbol, listener: (...args: unknown[]) => void) => MockEmitter;
+  once: (eventName: string | symbol, listener: (...args: unknown[]) => void) => MockEmitter;
+};
+
+type MockChildProcess = MockEmitter & {
+  stdout: MockEmitter;
+  stderr: MockEmitter;
+  kill: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
+};
+
+function createMockEmitter() {
+  return new EventEmitter() as unknown as MockEmitter;
+}
+
 function createSpawnedProcess() {
-  const child = new EventEmitter() as EventEmitter & {
-    stdout: EventEmitter;
-    stderr: EventEmitter;
-    kill: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>;
-    once: (event: string, listener: (...args: unknown[]) => void) => unknown;
-    on: (event: string, listener: (...args: unknown[]) => void) => unknown;
-  };
-  child.stdout = new EventEmitter();
-  child.stderr = new EventEmitter();
+  const child = createMockEmitter() as MockChildProcess;
+  child.stdout = createMockEmitter();
+  child.stderr = createMockEmitter();
   child.kill = vi.fn();
   return child;
 }
@@ -117,6 +127,68 @@ describe("qa suite runtime agent process helpers", () => {
     await expect(pending).resolves.toEqual({ ok: true });
   });
 
+  it("parses json qa cli output after colored startup logs", async () => {
+    const child = createSpawnedProcess();
+    spawnMock.mockReturnValue(child);
+
+    const pending = runQaCli(
+      {
+        repoRoot: "/repo",
+        gateway: {
+          tempRoot: "/tmp/runtime",
+          runtimeEnv: {},
+        },
+        primaryModel: "openai/gpt-5.4",
+        alternateModel: "openai/gpt-5.4-mini",
+        providerMode: "mock-openai",
+      } as never,
+      ["memory", "search", "--json"],
+      { json: true },
+    );
+
+    await waitForSpawnCount(1);
+    child.stdout.emit(
+      "data",
+      Buffer.from(
+        '\u001b[35m[plugins]\u001b[39m \u001b[36mcodex installed bundled runtime deps\u001b[39m\n{"results":[{"text":"ORBIT-10"}]}\n',
+      ),
+    );
+    child.emit("exit", 0);
+
+    await expect(pending).resolves.toEqual({ results: [{ text: "ORBIT-10" }] });
+  });
+
+  it("parses pretty json qa cli output after startup logs", async () => {
+    const child = createSpawnedProcess();
+    spawnMock.mockReturnValue(child);
+
+    const pending = runQaCli(
+      {
+        repoRoot: "/repo",
+        gateway: {
+          tempRoot: "/tmp/runtime",
+          runtimeEnv: {},
+        },
+        primaryModel: "openai/gpt-5.4",
+        alternateModel: "openai/gpt-5.4-mini",
+        providerMode: "mock-openai",
+      } as never,
+      ["memory", "search", "--json"],
+      { json: true },
+    );
+
+    await waitForSpawnCount(1);
+    child.stdout.emit(
+      "data",
+      Buffer.from(
+        '[plugins] memory-core installed bundled runtime deps\n{\n  "results": [\n    {\n      "text": "ORBIT-10"\n    }\n  ]\n}\n',
+      ),
+    );
+    child.emit("exit", 0);
+
+    await expect(pending).resolves.toEqual({ results: [{ text: "ORBIT-10" }] });
+  });
+
   it("starts an agent run with transport-derived delivery metadata", async () => {
     const gatewayCall = vi.fn(async () => ({ runId: "run-1" }));
     const env = {
diff --git a/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.ts b/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.ts
index 4f513cc24f1..9081ac93deb 100644
--- a/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.ts
+++ b/extensions/qa-lab/src/suite-runtime-agent-process.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,50 @@ type QaMemorySearchResult = {
   results?: Array<{ snippet?: string; text?: string; path?: string }>;
 };
 
+const ANSI_ESCAPE_PATTERN = new RegExp(String.raw`\x1B\[[0-?]*[ -/]*[@-~]`, "g");
+
+function stripAnsiCodes(text: string) {
+  return text.replace(ANSI_ESCAPE_PATTERN, "");
+}
+
+function parseQaCliJsonOutput(text: string) {
+  const cleaned = stripAnsiCodes(text).trim();
+  if (!cleaned) {
+    return {};
+  }
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(cleaned) as unknown;
+  } catch {
+    // Some startup repair logs are emitted on stdout before command JSON.
+    const lines = cleaned.split(/\r?\n/);
+    for (let index = 0; index < lines.length; index += 1) {
+      const candidate = lines[index].trim();
+      if (!candidate.startsWith("{") && !candidate.startsWith("[")) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      try {
+        return JSON.parse(lines.slice(index).join("\n")) as unknown;
+      } catch {
+        // Keep looking for the actual payload start.
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Keep a line-oriented fallback for compact payloads followed by diagnostics.
+    for (const line of lines.toReversed()) {
+      const candidate = line.trim();
+      if (!candidate.startsWith("{") && !candidate.startsWith("[")) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      try {
+        return JSON.parse(candidate) as unknown;
+      } catch {
+        // Keep looking for the actual payload line.
+      }
+    }
+    throw new Error(`qa cli returned non-JSON stdout: ${cleaned.slice(0, 240)}`);
+  }
+}
+
 async function runQaCli(
   env: Pick<
     QaSuiteRuntimeEnv,
@@ -55,7 +99,7 @@ async function runQaCli(
   if (!opts?.json) {
     return text;
   }
-  return text ? (JSON.parse(text) as unknown) : {};
+  return parseQaCliJsonOutput(text);
 }
 
 async function startAgentRun(