fix(preset): quote Windows retry commands

Render Windows recovery commands explicitly for PowerShell, using literal argument quoting so shell metacharacters remain part of URLs and paths. Add regression coverage against a real PowerShell parser when available.

Assisted-by: GitHub Copilot (model: HydraFusion, autonomous)
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: digimangos

docs/reference/presets.md

@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ higher, and the preset must already be installed. Beyond those checks the
 replacement source itself is not inspected in advance. If removal succeeds but
 replacement installation fails, the previous preset has already been removed.
 The command reports a copy-pastable `specify preset add` retry command,
-including the replacement source and priority. There is no source pre-flight,
+including the replacement source and priority. On Windows, the reported command
+is explicitly formatted for PowerShell. There is no source pre-flight,
 version comparison, manifest diff, staging, rollback, automatic repair, or
 recovery transaction. A missing or invalid replacement source can therefore
 leave the preset removed. With

src/specify_cli/presets/_commands.py

@@ -54,6 +54,19 @@
 MINIMUM_PRESET_PRIORITY = 1
 
 
+def _render_powershell_argv(argv: list[str]) -> str:
+    """Render argv as a copy-pastable PowerShell command.
+
+    PowerShell single-quoted strings are literal except that an embedded single
+    quote is escaped by doubling it. The call operator is required because the
+    executable name is quoted too.
+    """
+    def quote_arg(arg: str) -> str:
+        return "'" + arg.replace("'", "''") + "'"
+
+    return "& " + " ".join(quote_arg(arg) for arg in argv)
+
+
 def _validate_priority(priority: int) -> None:
     """Reject a non-positive priority before any destructive work begins.
 
@@ -537,18 +550,17 @@ def preset_update(
         retry_args.extend([preset_id, *retry_options])
 
     def report_add_failure() -> None:
-        import subprocess
-
-        rendered_args = (
-            subprocess.list2cmdline(retry_args)
-            if os.name == "nt"
-            else shlex.join(retry_args)
-        )
+        if os.name == "nt":
+            retry_label = "Retry in PowerShell: "
+            rendered_args = _render_powershell_argv(retry_args)
+        else:
+            retry_label = "Retry with: "
+            rendered_args = shlex.join(retry_args)
         console.print(
             "[red]Error:[/red] Preset update failed; the previous preset was removed."
         )
         console.print(
-            "Retry with: [cyan]"
+            f"{retry_label}[cyan]"
             f"{_escape_markup(rendered_args)}"
             "[/cyan]",
             soft_wrap=True,

tests/integration/test_preset_update_workflow.py

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
 import os
 import shlex
-import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import pytest
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@
 
 from specify_cli import app
 from specify_cli.presets import PresetManager
+from specify_cli.presets._commands import _render_powershell_argv
 from tests.conftest import strip_ansi
 
 PRESET_ID = "update-workflow-demo"
@@ -88,23 +88,24 @@ def write_preset(
 def render_command(args: list[str]) -> str:
     """Render *args* the way ``preset update`` renders its retry command."""
     if os.name == "nt":
-        return subprocess.list2cmdline(args)
+        return _render_powershell_argv(args)
     return shlex.join(args)
 
 
 def parse_command(rendered: str) -> list[str]:
     """Inverse of :func:`render_command` for the simple args used here."""
     if os.name == "nt":
-        return [token.strip('"') for token in shlex.split(rendered, posix=False)]
+        return shlex.split(rendered)[1:]
     return shlex.split(rendered)
 
 
 def retry_command_from(output: str) -> str:
     """Extract the retry command printed after a failed update."""
+    prefix = "Retry in PowerShell: " if os.name == "nt" else "Retry with: "
     for line in strip_ansi(output).splitlines():
         stripped = line.strip()
-        if stripped.startswith("Retry with: "):
-            return stripped[len("Retry with: ") :].strip()
+        if stripped.startswith(prefix):
+            return stripped[len(prefix) :].strip()
     raise AssertionError(f"No retry command found in output:\n{output}")
 
 

tests/test_presets.py

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import os
 import shlex
 import subprocess
+import sys
 import tempfile
 import tarfile
 import shutil
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@
 from specify_cli.extensions import ExtensionRegistry
 from specify_cli._console import console
 from specify_cli.presets._commands import (
+    _render_powershell_argv,
     _warn_unmet_extension_dependencies,
     preset_update,
 )
@@ -11650,12 +11652,69 @@ def fail_add(**_kwargs):
             "6",
         ]
         expected = (
-            subprocess.list2cmdline(retry_args)
+            _render_powershell_argv(retry_args)
             if os.name == "nt"
             else shlex.join(retry_args)
         )
         assert expected in output
 
+    def test_retry_command_quotes_powershell_metacharacters(
+        self, project_dir, monkeypatch, capsys
+    ):
+        """Windows retry commands keep PowerShell metacharacters literal."""
+        commands = self._manager(monkeypatch, project_dir)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(commands, "preset_remove", lambda _preset_id: None)
+
+        def fail_add(**_kwargs):
+            raise typer.Exit(1)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(commands, "preset_add", fail_add)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(os, "name", "nt")
+
+        with pytest.raises(typer.Exit) as exc_info:
+            preset_update(
+                "test-pack",
+                from_url=None,
+                dev=r"C:\replacement&$backup's presets",
+                priority=6,
+            )
+
+        assert exc_info.value.exit_code == 1
+        output = strip_ansi(capsys.readouterr().out)
+        expected = (
+            "& 'specify' 'preset' 'add' 'test-pack' '--dev' "
+            "'C:\\replacement&$backup''s presets' '--priority' '6'"
+        )
+        assert "Retry in PowerShell: " in output
+        assert expected in output
+
+    def test_powershell_retry_renderer_preserves_literal_arguments(self):
+        """The rendered command survives parsing by a real PowerShell."""
+        powershell = shutil.which("pwsh") or shutil.which("powershell")
+        if powershell is None:
+            pytest.skip("PowerShell is not available")
+
+        arguments = [
+            "https://example.com/archive.zip?one=1&two=$value",
+            r"C:\owner's presets",
+        ]
+        rendered = _render_powershell_argv(
+            [
+                sys.executable,
+                "-c",
+                "import json,sys; print(json.dumps(sys.argv[1:]))",
+                *arguments,
+            ]
+        )
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            [powershell, "-NoProfile", "-Command", rendered],
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+        )
+
+        assert json.loads(result.stdout) == arguments
+
     def test_invalid_priority_rejected_before_removal(
         self, project_dir, monkeypatch, capsys
     ):