From 47c4db53af1ea9c68753736d7760aafbe7d8c48b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Fleming <github@joefleming.net>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 20:11:21 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] fix: fail to run agent or gateway without config

---
 src/cli/agent.ts    | 2 ++
 src/cli/commands.ts | 7 +------
 src/cli/gateway.ts  | 2 ++
 src/cli/utils.ts    | 7 +++----
 4 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/cli/agent.ts b/src/cli/agent.ts
index c40d63d..8aa8dac 100644
--- a/src/cli/agent.ts
+++ b/src/cli/agent.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import pc from 'picocolors';
 import { AgentLoop } from '../agent/loop.ts';
 import { MessageBus } from '../bus/queue.ts';
 import { makeProvider } from '../provider/index.ts';
+import { ensureWorkspace } from './utils.ts';
 import type { Config } from '../config/types.ts';
 
 export function agentCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: string): void {
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ export function agentCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: string
     .option('-m, --message <text>', 'Single message to process (non-interactive)')
     .option('-M, --model <model>', 'Model override')
     .action(async (opts: { config?: string; message?: string; model?: string }) => {
+      ensureWorkspace(workspace);
       console.info(pc.magenta(`workspace path: ${workspace}`));
       
       const model = opts.model ?? config.agent.model;
diff --git a/src/cli/commands.ts b/src/cli/commands.ts
index d22c504..b42511e 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands.ts
@@ -3,23 +3,18 @@ import { loadConfig, resolveWorkspacePath } from '../config/loader.ts';
 import { agentCommand } from './agent.ts';
 import { gatewayCommand } from './gateway.ts';
 import { onboardCommand } from './onboard.ts';
-import { ensureWorkspace } from './utils.ts';
 
 export function createCli(): Command {
   const program = new Command('nanobot')
     .description('nanobot — personal AI assistant')
     .version('1.0.0');
 
-  // Register onboard command first (doesn't need config/workspace)
   onboardCommand(program);
-  
-  // load config and get workspace
+
   const globalOpts = program.opts();
   const config = loadConfig(globalOpts.config);
   const workspace = resolveWorkspacePath(config.agent.workspacePath);
 
-  ensureWorkspace(workspace);
-
   gatewayCommand(program, config, workspace);
   agentCommand(program, config, workspace);
 
diff --git a/src/cli/gateway.ts b/src/cli/gateway.ts
index e4cbd71..af26b4c 100644
--- a/src/cli/gateway.ts
+++ b/src/cli/gateway.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { MattermostChannel } from '../channels/mattermost.ts';
 import { CronService } from '../cron/service.ts';
 import { HeartbeatService } from '../heartbeat/service.ts';
 import { makeProvider } from '../provider/index.ts';
+import { ensureWorkspace } from './utils.ts';
 
 import type { Config } from '../config/types.ts';
 
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ export function gatewayCommand(program: Command, config: Config, workspace: stri
     .option('-c, --config <path>', 'Path to config.json')
     .description('Start the full gateway: Mattermost channel, agent loop, cron, and heartbeat.')
     .action(async (_opts: { config?: string }) => {
+      ensureWorkspace(workspace);
       console.info(pc.magenta(`workspace path: ${workspace}`));
 
       const provider = makeProvider(
diff --git a/src/cli/utils.ts b/src/cli/utils.ts
index e1e7415..4b3ce5a 100644
--- a/src/cli/utils.ts
+++ b/src/cli/utils.ts
@@ -11,15 +11,14 @@ export function resolvePath(raw: string): string {
   return resolve(raw);
 }
 
-export function ensureWorkspace(rawPath: string, createIfMissing = true): string {
+export function ensureWorkspace(rawPath: string, createIfMissing = false): string {
   const path = resolvePath(rawPath);
   if (!existsSync(path)) {
     if (createIfMissing) {
       mkdirSync(path, { recursive: true });
     } else {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Workspace does not exist: ${path}\nRun 'nanobot onboard' to initialize.`,
-      );
+      console.error(pc.red(`Workspace does not exist: ${path}\nRun 'nanobot onboard' to initialize.`))
+      process.exit(1)
     }
   }
   return path;