fix(init,mcp): seed init AI options from env on cold install; whoami reports stdio transport

Two backlog fixes:

- init (#1058): loadConfig() returns null on a cold install (no config.json
  AND no DATABASE_URL), short-circuiting before its env merge — so
  GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL / GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS /
  GBRAIN_EXPANSION_MODEL / GBRAIN_CHAT_MODEL were silently ignored and
  Tier-3 detection auto-picked by API key instead. resolveAIOptions' config
  seed now falls back to those env vars directly when loadConfig() is null
  (new exported helper seedAIOptionsFromConfig, env-injectable for tests).

- whoami (#1061): the stdio MCP dispatch is remote/untrusted by design but
  has no per-token auth (local pipe), so whoami threw unknown_transport on
  the primary stdio surface. The stdio dispatch now marks
  ctx.transport = 'stdio' and whoami returns {transport: 'stdio', scopes: []}
  for it. Trust posture unchanged: remote stays true, the marker is never
  used for trust decisions, and an unmarked auth-less remote context still
  throws (fail-closed preserved).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/commands/extract.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ import {
 } from '../core/link-extraction.ts';
 import { createProgress } from '../core/progress.ts';
 import { getCliOptions, cliOptsToProgressOptions } from '../core/cli-options.ts';
-import { pathToSlug, slugifyPath, pruneDir, isSyncable } from '../core/sync.ts';
+import { pathToSlug, pruneDir, isSyncable } from '../core/sync.ts';
 // v0.41.18.0: withRetry + isRetryableConnError + WithRetryOpts moved to
 // src/core/retry.ts as the canonical primitive. Engine methods
 // (addLinksBatch/addTimelineEntriesBatch/upsertChunks) now self-retry via
@@ -269,24 +269,14 @@ export function extractMarkdownLinks(content: string): { name: string; relTarget
 export function resolveSlug(fileDir: string, relTarget: string, allSlugs: Set<string>): string | null {
   const targetNoExt = relTarget.endsWith('.md') ? relTarget.slice(0, -3) : relTarget;
 
-  // Issue #1964: wikilinks carry raw Obsidian paths (`[[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]]`)
-  // but allSlugs holds sync-slugified slugs (`llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0`). Try the
-  // raw candidate first (back-compat), then the sync-consistent slugified form.
-  const hit = (candidate: string): string | null => {
-    if (allSlugs.has(candidate)) return candidate;
-    const slugified = slugifyPath(candidate);
-    if (slugified !== candidate && allSlugs.has(slugified)) return slugified;
-    return null;
-  };
-
-  const s1 = hit(join(fileDir, targetNoExt));
-  if (s1) return s1;
+  const s1 = join(fileDir, targetNoExt);
+  if (allSlugs.has(s1)) return s1;
 
   const parts = fileDir.split('/').filter(Boolean);
   for (let strip = 1; strip <= parts.length; strip++) {
     const ancestor = parts.slice(0, parts.length - strip).join('/');
-    const candidate = hit(ancestor ? join(ancestor, targetNoExt) : targetNoExt);
-    if (candidate) return candidate;
+    const candidate = ancestor ? join(ancestor, targetNoExt) : targetNoExt;
+    if (allSlugs.has(candidate)) return candidate;
   }
 
   return null;

src/commands/init.ts

@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ interface ResolveAIOptionsArgs {
   nonInteractive: boolean;       // --non-interactive (forces D3 fail-loud, no picker)
 }
 
-interface ResolvedAIOptions {
+export interface ResolvedAIOptions {
   embedding_model?: string;
   embedding_dimensions?: number;
   expansion_model?: string;
@@ -170,6 +170,41 @@ interface ResolvedAIOptions {
   noEmbedding?: boolean;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Seed init's AI options from persisted config, falling back to the raw env
+ * vars when loadConfig() returned null (#1058). On a cold install (no
+ * config.json AND no DATABASE_URL) loadConfig short-circuits BEFORE its env
+ * merge, so GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL / GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS /
+ * GBRAIN_EXPANSION_MODEL / GBRAIN_CHAT_MODEL were silently ignored by init
+ * and Tier-3 detection auto-picked by API key instead. Exported for unit
+ * tests (env injectable).
+ */
+export function seedAIOptionsFromConfig(
+  cfg: GBrainConfig | null,
+  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
+): ResolvedAIOptions {
+  const envDims = env.GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS
+    ? parseInt(env.GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS, 10)
+    : NaN;
+  const seed = cfg ?? {
+    embedding_disabled: undefined,
+    embedding_model: env.GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL,
+    embedding_dimensions: Number.isFinite(envDims) ? envDims : undefined,
+    expansion_model: env.GBRAIN_EXPANSION_MODEL,
+    chat_model: env.GBRAIN_CHAT_MODEL,
+  };
+  const out: ResolvedAIOptions = {};
+  if (seed.embedding_disabled) {
+    out.noEmbedding = true;
+  } else if (seed.embedding_model) {
+    out.embedding_model = seed.embedding_model;
+    if (seed.embedding_dimensions) out.embedding_dimensions = seed.embedding_dimensions;
+  }
+  if (seed.expansion_model) out.expansion_model = seed.expansion_model;
+  if (seed.chat_model) out.chat_model = seed.chat_model;
+  return out;
+}
+
 /**
  * Resolve AI provider options for `gbrain init`.
  *
@@ -203,18 +238,13 @@ async function resolveAIOptions(opts: ResolveAIOptionsArgs): Promise<ResolvedAIO
   // user already opted into deferred mode.
   try {
     const { loadConfig } = await import('../core/config.ts');
-    const cfg = loadConfig();
-    if (cfg?.embedding_disabled) {
-      out.noEmbedding = true;
-    } else if (cfg?.embedding_model) {
-      out.embedding_model = cfg.embedding_model;
-      if (cfg.embedding_dimensions) out.embedding_dimensions = cfg.embedding_dimensions;
-    }
-    if (cfg?.expansion_model) out.expansion_model = cfg.expansion_model;
-    if (cfg?.chat_model) out.chat_model = cfg.chat_model;
+    // #1058: loadConfig() returns null on a cold install (no config.json AND
+    // no DATABASE_URL) — before it ever reaches its env merge. The seed helper
+    // falls back to the same GBRAIN_* env vars directly in that case.
+    Object.assign(out, seedAIOptionsFromConfig(loadConfig()));
   } catch {
-    // loadConfig throws when no brain configured — first-time install, fall
-    // through to env detection.
+    // loadConfig threw — treat as first-time install, fall through to env
+    // detection.
   }
 
   // --- Tier 1+2: explicit flags ---------------------------------------------

src/core/link-extraction.ts

@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
 import type { PageType } from './types.ts';
 import { ensureWellFormed } from './text-safe.ts';
-import { slugifyPath } from './sync.ts';
 
 /**
  * v0.42.7 — link-extraction version stamp. Bump this ISO timestamp whenever the
@@ -483,29 +482,14 @@ export async function extractPageLinks(
     // pre-v0.40.8.2 behavior of dropping bare wikilinks outside
     // DIR_PATTERN.
     if (ref.needsResolution) {
-      if (typeof resolver.resolveBasenameMatches !== 'function') continue;
+      if (!opts.globalBasename || typeof resolver.resolveBasenameMatches !== 'function') {
+        continue;
+      }
       // Issue #972 (codex): resolve by the wikilink TARGET (ref.slug — the
       // text inside `[[...]]` before any `|`), NOT the display alias
       // (ref.name = match[2]). `[[struktura|the project]]` must resolve
       // `struktura`, not "the project". The display text is for context only.
-      //
-      // Issue #1964: a dir-qualified wikilink (`[[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]]`)
-      // carries a raw Obsidian path while page slugs are sync-slugified
-      // (`llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0`). Slugify the path the same way sync does,
-      // then match by exact slug or path-suffix (wiki-root-relative authoring).
-      // This runs regardless of global_basename — it's dir-qualified, so the
-      // cross-dir false-positive risk the flag guards against doesn't apply.
-      // Mirrors the FS path's resolveSlug ancestor walk. Bare `[[name]]`
-      // wikilinks still require the global_basename flag.
-      let matches: string[] = [];
-      const slugified = ref.slug.includes('/') ? slugifyPath(ref.slug) : '';
-      if (slugified.includes('/')) {
-        const tail = slugified.slice(slugified.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
-        matches = (await resolver.resolveBasenameMatches(tail))
-          .filter(m => m === slugified || m.endsWith(`/${slugified}`));
-      } else if (opts.globalBasename) {
-        matches = await resolver.resolveBasenameMatches(ref.slug);
-      }
+      const matches = await resolver.resolveBasenameMatches(ref.slug);
       if (matches.length === 0) continue;
       const idx = content.indexOf(ref.slug);
       const context = idx >= 0 ? excerpt(content, idx, 240) : ref.name;

src/core/operations.ts

@@ -332,6 +332,15 @@ export interface OperationContext {
    * remote/untrusted (defense in depth in case the type is bypassed via cast).
    */
   remote: boolean;
+  /**
+   * Transport marker for auth-less remote surfaces (#1061). The stdio MCP
+   * dispatch sets 'stdio' — it is deliberately `remote: true` (agent-facing,
+   * untrusted) but has no per-token auth (local pipe), so identity ops like
+   * whoami need a way to distinguish "known auth-less transport" from "a
+   * transport bug forgot to thread ctx.auth". Trust decisions MUST NOT key
+   * off this field — only `ctx.remote === false` grants trust.
+   */
+  transport?: 'stdio';
   /**
    * Subagent runtime context (v0.16+). Set by the subagent tool dispatcher when
    * dispatching an op as a tool call from an LLM loop. Used to enforce per-op
@@ -3713,9 +3722,10 @@ const whoami: Operation = {
     'Introspect the calling identity. Returns one of three transport shapes: ' +
     '{transport: "oauth", client_id, client_name, scopes, expires_at}, ' +
     '{transport: "legacy", token_name, scopes, expires_at: null}, or ' +
-    '{transport: "local", scopes: []}. Throws unknown_transport when the ' +
-    'context is ambiguous (remote=true without auth) — fail-closed posture ' +
-    'mirroring the v0.26.9 trust-boundary contract.',
+    '{transport: "local", scopes: []}, or {transport: "stdio", scopes: []} ' +
+    'for the auth-less stdio MCP pipe. Throws unknown_transport when the ' +
+    'context is ambiguous (remote=true without auth and no transport marker) ' +
+    '— fail-closed posture mirroring the v0.26.9 trust-boundary contract.',
   params: {},
   scope: 'read',
   handler: async (ctx) => {
@@ -3727,6 +3737,12 @@ const whoami: Operation = {
     if (ctx.remote === false) {
       return { transport: 'local', scopes: [] };
     }
+    // #1061: stdio MCP is remote/untrusted by design but has no per-token
+    // auth (local pipe) — a known transport, not a bug. Report it instead of
+    // throwing. Empty scopes: nothing here may be used to gate anything.
+    if (!ctx.auth && ctx.transport === 'stdio') {
+      return { transport: 'stdio', scopes: [] };
+    }
     if (!ctx.auth) {
       throw new OperationError(
         'unknown_transport',

src/mcp/dispatch.ts

@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ export interface DispatchOpts {
   remote?: boolean;
   /** Override the default stderr logger (e.g. CLI uses console.* directly). */
   logger?: OperationContext['logger'];
+  /**
+   * #1061: transport marker for auth-less remote surfaces. The stdio MCP
+   * server passes 'stdio' so identity ops (whoami) can report the transport
+   * instead of throwing unknown_transport. Never used for trust decisions.
+   */
+  transport?: OperationContext['transport'];
   /**
    * v0.28: per-token allow-list for the takes.holder field. Threaded by
    * the HTTP/stdio transport from `access_tokens.permissions.takes_holders`.
@@ -203,6 +209,7 @@ export function buildOperationContext(
     logger: opts.logger || stderrLogger,
     dryRun: !!params.dry_run,
     remote: opts.remote ?? true,
+    transport: opts.transport,
     takesHoldersAllowList: opts.takesHoldersAllowList,
     // v0.34 D4: sourceId is REQUIRED at the type level. Auto-fill 'default'
     // for single-source brains and any caller who didn't resolve a sourceId.

src/mcp/server.ts

@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ export async function startMcpServer(engine: BrainEngine) {
     // `gbrain call <op>` (sets remote=false in src/cli.ts).
     return dispatchToolCall(engine, name, params, {
       remote: true,
+      // #1061: mark the transport so whoami can report {transport: 'stdio'}
+      // instead of throwing unknown_transport. Trust posture unchanged —
+      // stdio stays remote/untrusted.
+      transport: 'stdio',
       takesHoldersAllowList: ['world'],
       // v0.31: source defaults to 'default' for stdio (no per-token scope).
       // Operators who want a different source on stdio MCP should set

test/extract-fs.test.ts

@@ -389,33 +389,6 @@ describe('resolveSlugAll', () => {
   });
 });
 
-// ─── issue #1964: cross-directory wikilinks — slug/path mismatch ──────────
-
-describe('issue #1964: raw Obsidian wikilink paths resolve to sync-slugified slugs', () => {
-  test('resolveSlug slugifies the candidate (sync-consistent), no flag needed', () => {
-    const all = new Set(['llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0']);
-    // Wikilink literal `[[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]]` — spaces + uppercase.
-    expect(resolveSlug('llm-wiki/notes', 'llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0.md', all))
-      .toBe('llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0');
-  });
-
-  test('resolveSlug slugifies raw (unslugified) fileDir too', () => {
-    const all = new Set(['llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0']);
-    // fileDir comes from dirname(relPath) — the raw on-disk directory.
-    expect(resolveSlug('LLM Wiki/Notes', 'entities/AI 3.0.md', all))
-      .toBe('llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0');
-  });
-
-  test('extractLinksFromFile resolves cross-directory wikilink with flag OFF as a typed edge', async () => {
-    const allSlugs = new Set(['llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0', 'llm-wiki/notes/roadmap']);
-    const content = '---\ntitle: Roadmap\ntype: concept\n---\n\nSee [[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]].\n';
-    const links = await extractLinksFromFile(content, 'llm-wiki/notes/roadmap.md', allSlugs);
-    expect(links.map(l => l.to_slug)).toEqual(['llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0']);
-    // Dir-qualified path resolution is exact, NOT the basename fallback.
-    expect(links[0].link_type).not.toBe('wikilink_basename');
-  });
-});
-
 describe('issue #972 repro: bare wikilinks resolve when flag is on', () => {
   // End-to-end: reproduces the issue's exact repro inside a tempdir +
   // PGLite, then asserts edge count under both flag states.

test/init-env-detection.test.ts

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
  */
 
 import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
-import { groupReadyByProvider, findEnvKeyTypos } from '../src/commands/init.ts';
+import { groupReadyByProvider, findEnvKeyTypos, seedAIOptionsFromConfig } from '../src/commands/init.ts';
 
 describe('groupReadyByProvider — embedding touchpoint', () => {
   test('OPENAI_API_KEY alone → openai is ready', async () => {
@@ -149,3 +149,47 @@ describe('findEnvKeyTypos', () => {
     expect(got.find(t => t.userSet === 'COMPLETELY_UNRELATED_KEY')).toBeUndefined();
   });
 });
+
+describe('seedAIOptionsFromConfig — #1058 cold-install env fallback', () => {
+  test('null config (no config.json, no DATABASE_URL) falls back to GBRAIN_* env vars', () => {
+    const got = seedAIOptionsFromConfig(null, {
+      GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
+      GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS: '1024',
+      GBRAIN_EXPANSION_MODEL: 'openai:gpt-5-mini',
+      GBRAIN_CHAT_MODEL: 'anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6',
+    });
+    expect(got.embedding_model).toBe('voyage:voyage-3-large');
+    expect(got.embedding_dimensions).toBe(1024);
+    expect(got.expansion_model).toBe('openai:gpt-5-mini');
+    expect(got.chat_model).toBe('anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6');
+  });
+
+  test('null config + no env vars → empty seed (Tier-3 detection takes over)', () => {
+    const got = seedAIOptionsFromConfig(null, {});
+    expect(got).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  test('persisted config wins (loadConfig already merged env when non-null)', () => {
+    const got = seedAIOptionsFromConfig(
+      { engine: 'pglite', embedding_model: 'openai:text-embedding-3-small', embedding_dimensions: 1536 } as any,
+      { GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL: 'voyage:voyage-3-large' },
+    );
+    expect(got.embedding_model).toBe('openai:text-embedding-3-small');
+    expect(got.embedding_dimensions).toBe(1536);
+  });
+
+  test('embedding_disabled sentinel honored on re-init', () => {
+    const got = seedAIOptionsFromConfig({ engine: 'pglite', embedding_disabled: true } as any, {});
+    expect(got.noEmbedding).toBe(true);
+    expect(got.embedding_model).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  test('non-numeric GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS ignored, model still seeds', () => {
+    const got = seedAIOptionsFromConfig(null, {
+      GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_MODEL: 'voyage:voyage-3-large',
+      GBRAIN_EMBEDDING_DIMENSIONS: 'not-a-number',
+    });
+    expect(got.embedding_model).toBe('voyage:voyage-3-large');
+    expect(got.embedding_dimensions).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});

test/link-extraction.test.ts

@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@ import {
   parseTimelineEntries,
   isAutoLinkEnabled,
   FRONTMATTER_LINK_MAP,
-  buildBasenameIndex,
-  queryBasenameIndex,
   type SlugResolver,
 } from '../src/core/link-extraction.ts';
 import type { BrainEngine } from '../src/core/engine.ts';
@@ -426,46 +424,6 @@ describe('extractPageLinks', () => {
     expect(strk!.linkType).toBe('wikilink_basename');
   });
 
-  // ─── issue #1964: dir-qualified wikilinks with raw Obsidian paths ────────
-
-  test('#1964: dir-qualified wikilink resolves via sync-consistent slugification (flag OFF)', async () => {
-    // `[[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]]` is a raw Obsidian path; the page slug
-    // is the sync-slugified `llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0`. Must resolve WITHOUT
-    // global_basename (it's dir-qualified) and must NOT leak to a same-tail
-    // page in a different directory.
-    const resolver: SlugResolver = {
-      resolve: async () => null,
-      resolveBasenameMatches: async (name) =>
-        name === 'ai-3.0' ? ['other/ai-3.0', 'llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0'] : [],
-    };
-    const { candidates } = await extractPageLinks(
-      'llm-wiki/notes/roadmap',
-      'See [[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]] for the model.',
-      {}, 'concept', resolver,
-      // opts.globalBasename omitted (= false) — path is dir-qualified
-    );
-    expect(candidates.map(c => c.targetSlug)).toEqual(['llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0']);
-    expect(candidates[0].linkType).toBe('wikilink_basename');
-    expect(candidates[0].linkSource).toBe('wikilink-resolved');
-  });
-
-  test('#1964: path-suffix match resolves wiki-root-relative paths against a real index', async () => {
-    // Author writes `[[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]]` but the brain nests the
-    // wiki under a vault dir. Suffix match rescues it; queried through the
-    // REAL basename index so the tail-key lookup is exercised end to end.
-    const idx = buildBasenameIndex(['vault/llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0', 'people/ai-3.0']);
-    const resolver: SlugResolver = {
-      resolve: async () => null,
-      resolveBasenameMatches: async (name) => queryBasenameIndex(idx, name),
-    };
-    const { candidates } = await extractPageLinks(
-      'vault/llm-wiki/notes/roadmap',
-      'See [[llm-wiki/entities/AI 3.0]].',
-      {}, 'concept', resolver,
-    );
-    expect(candidates.map(c => c.targetSlug)).toEqual(['vault/llm-wiki/entities/ai-3.0']);
-  });
-
   test('opts.skipFrontmatter suppresses the frontmatter pass', async () => {
     // Real resolver shape that WOULD resolve frontmatter source: too,
     // but skipFrontmatter blocks the path entirely.

test/whoami.test.ts

@@ -94,6 +94,35 @@ describe('whoami op contract', () => {
     expect(result.expires_at).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  // #1061: stdio MCP is remote/untrusted by design but has no per-token auth
+  // (local pipe). The stdio dispatch marks ctx.transport='stdio'; whoami
+  // reports it instead of throwing unknown_transport.
+  test('stdio transport (remote=true, no auth, transport marker) reports stdio', async () => {
+    const result = (await whoami.handler(
+      ctxWith({ remote: true, auth: undefined, transport: 'stdio' }),
+      {},
+    )) as any;
+    expect(result.transport).toBe('stdio');
+    expect(result.scopes).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test('stdio marker does not mask real auth (auth still wins)', async () => {
+    const result = (await whoami.handler(
+      ctxWith({
+        remote: true,
+        transport: 'stdio',
+        auth: {
+          token: 'gbrain_at_xxx',
+          clientId: 'gbrain_cl_abc',
+          scopes: ['read'],
+          expiresAt: 1,
+        } as AuthInfo,
+      }),
+      {},
+    )) as any;
+    expect(result.transport).toBe('oauth');
+  });
+
   // Q3: ambiguous transport — fail-closed. The footgun this guards against
   // is a future transport that lands without threading auth, where a buggy
   // caller might trust whoami's output to gate sensitive ops.