fix(backlinks): honor positional check-backlinks directory argument

The help text (gbrain check-backlinks <check|fix> [dir]) promised a
positional directory argument, but runBacklinks only parsed --dir and
defaulted to cwd, so the walker ran from the wrong root and could hit
EPERM on unreadable sibling dirs.

Extract parseBacklinksArgs: positional [dir] is now honored, --dir still
overrides it, --dry-run preserved, and a --dir flag missing its value
falls back to the positional dir instead of picking up undefined.

Takeover of #852 (rebased onto master past the findBacklinkGaps dedupe
test block). Fixes #485.

Co-authored-by: Kage18 <Kage18@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/commands/backlinks.ts

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
  * checks if back-links exist, and optionally creates them.
  *
  * Usage:
- *   gbrain check-backlinks check [--dir <brain-dir>]     # report missing back-links
- *   gbrain check-backlinks fix [--dir <brain-dir>]        # create missing back-links
+ *   gbrain check-backlinks check [dir] [--dir <brain-dir>] # report missing back-links
+ *   gbrain check-backlinks fix [dir] [--dir <brain-dir>]   # create missing back-links
  *   gbrain check-backlinks fix --dry-run                  # preview fixes
  */
 
@@ -201,6 +201,40 @@ export interface BacklinksResult {
   dryRun: boolean;
 }
 
+export interface ParsedBacklinksArgs {
+  subcommand: string | undefined;
+  brainDir: string;
+  dryRun: boolean;
+}
+
+export function parseBacklinksArgs(args: string[]): ParsedBacklinksArgs {
+  const subcommand = args[0];
+  const dryRun = args.includes('--dry-run');
+  const dirIdx = args.indexOf('--dir');
+  const flagDir = dirIdx >= 0 && args[dirIdx + 1] && !args[dirIdx + 1].startsWith('--')
+    ? args[dirIdx + 1]
+    : undefined;
+
+  let positionalDir: string | undefined;
+  for (let i = 1; i < args.length; i++) {
+    const arg = args[i];
+    if (arg === '--dir') {
+      i++;
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (arg === '--dry-run') continue;
+    if (arg.startsWith('--')) continue;
+    positionalDir = arg;
+    break;
+  }
+
+  return {
+    subcommand,
+    brainDir: flagDir ?? positionalDir ?? '.',
+    dryRun,
+  };
+}
+
 /**
  * Library-level backlinks check/fix. Throws on validation errors; returns a
  * structured result so Minions handlers + autopilot-cycle can surface counts.
@@ -236,16 +270,14 @@ export async function runBacklinksCore(opts: BacklinksOpts): Promise<BacklinksRe
 }
 
 export async function runBacklinks(args: string[]) {
-  const subcommand = args[0];
-  const dirIdx = args.indexOf('--dir');
-  const brainDir = dirIdx >= 0 ? args[dirIdx + 1] : '.';
-  const dryRun = args.includes('--dry-run');
+  const { subcommand, brainDir, dryRun } = parseBacklinksArgs(args);
 
   if (!subcommand || !['check', 'fix'].includes(subcommand)) {
-    console.error('Usage: gbrain check-backlinks <check|fix> [--dir <brain-dir>] [--dry-run]');
+    console.error('Usage: gbrain check-backlinks <check|fix> [dir] [--dir <brain-dir>] [--dry-run]');
     console.error('  check    Report missing back-links');
     console.error('  fix      Create missing back-links (appends to Timeline)');
-    console.error('  --dir    Brain directory (default: current directory)');
+    console.error('  dir      Brain directory (default: current directory)');
+    console.error('  --dir    Brain directory override');
     console.error('  --dry-run  Preview fixes without writing');
     process.exit(1);
   }

src/core/ai/recipes/litellm-proxy.ts

@@ -56,36 +56,6 @@ export const litellmProxy: Recipe = {
       cost_per_1m_output_usd: undefined,
       price_last_verified: '2026-06-14',
     },
-    // LiteLLM normalizes Cohere / Voyage / Jina / etc. rerank backends to the
-    // same wire shape gbrain's gateway.rerank() already speaks (the
-    // ZeroEntropy/llama.cpp contract):
-    //   { model, query, documents, top_n } → { results: [{ index, relevance_score }] }
-    // So any rerank model the user registers in their LiteLLM config is
-    // reachable via `gbrain config set search.reranker.model litellm:<model>`
-    // with no request/response adapter — same as embeddings ride the proxy.
-    reranker: {
-      models: [], // user-provided; whatever rerank models the proxy serves
-      // No canonical default — the proxy defines its own model ids. The user
-      // sets search.reranker.model explicitly (mirrors the embedding
-      // touchpoint's user_provided_models contract).
-      default_model: '',
-      // The proxied backend bills (Cohere/Voyage/…); pricing-unknown is the
-      // honest state — same stance as this recipe's embedding/chat
-      // touchpoints and budget-tracker's deliberate litellm exclusion from
-      // the free-provider sets.
-      cost_per_1m_tokens_usd: undefined,
-      price_last_verified: '2026-06-27',
-      max_payload_bytes: 5_000_000,
-      // LEAF path only (matches llama-server-reranker's convention). LiteLLM
-      // serves both `/rerank` and `/v1/rerank`, and LITELLM_BASE_URL may be
-      // set with or without the `/v1` suffix (the setup_hint allows both), so
-      // the leaf form yields a valid route either way:
-      //   http://localhost:4000    + /rerank → /rerank        ✓
-      //   http://localhost:4000/v1 + /rerank → /v1/rerank     ✓
-      // Pinning '/v1/rerank' here would double to /v1/v1/rerank → 404 on
-      // /v1-suffixed bases.
-      path: '/rerank',
-    },
   },
-  setup_hint: 'Run LiteLLM (https://docs.litellm.ai) in front of any provider; set LITELLM_BASE_URL (include the /v1 suffix if your proxy serves the OpenAI route there, e.g. http://localhost:4000/v1) + pass --embedding-model litellm:<model> and --embedding-dimensions <N>. For rerank: register a rerank model in LiteLLM and set search.reranker.model litellm:<model-name>.',
+  setup_hint: 'Run LiteLLM (https://docs.litellm.ai) in front of any provider; set LITELLM_BASE_URL (include the /v1 suffix if your proxy serves the OpenAI route there, e.g. http://localhost:4000/v1) + pass --embedding-model litellm:<model> and --embedding-dimensions <N>.',
 };

test/ai/recipe-litellm-reranker.test.ts

@@ -1,88 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * litellm-proxy reranker touchpoint smoke.
- *
- * Sibling of recipe-llama-server-reranker.test.ts. Pins the reranker
- * touchpoint on the LiteLLM proxy recipe so:
- *  - the touchpoint exists with the LEAF '/rerank' path (LiteLLM serves both
- *    /rerank and /v1/rerank, so the leaf form is valid whether or not the
- *    user's LITELLM_BASE_URL carries the /v1 suffix the setup_hint allows)
- *  - a /v1-suffixed base URL does NOT produce /v1/v1/rerank (the original
- *    community PR pinned '/v1/rerank' which 404s on /v1-suffixed bases)
- *  - models: [] (user-provided; proxy defines the model ids)
- *  - pricing stays undefined (proxy can front a paid provider — same honest
- *    pricing-unknown stance as the embedding/chat touchpoints)
- *
- * The gateway.rerank() URL tests drive the real URL builder via the stubbed
- * transport (same seam as test/ai/rerank.test.ts).
- */
-
-import { describe, expect, test, afterEach } from 'bun:test';
-import { getRecipe } from '../../src/core/ai/recipes/index.ts';
-import {
-  configureGateway,
-  resetGateway,
-  rerank,
-  __setRerankTransportForTests,
-} from '../../src/core/ai/gateway.ts';
-
-afterEach(() => {
-  __setRerankTransportForTests(null);
-  resetGateway();
-});
-
-describe('recipe: litellm reranker touchpoint', () => {
-  test('declares reranker touchpoint with leaf /rerank path', () => {
-    const r = getRecipe('litellm')!;
-    const tp = r.touchpoints.reranker;
-    expect(tp).toBeDefined();
-    expect(tp!.path).toBe('/rerank');
-    expect(tp!.max_payload_bytes).toBe(5_000_000);
-  });
-
-  test('reranker touchpoint uses empty models[] for user-provided model ids', () => {
-    const r = getRecipe('litellm')!;
-    expect(r.touchpoints.reranker!.models).toEqual([]);
-  });
-
-  test('pricing stays undefined — proxy can front a paid provider', () => {
-    const r = getRecipe('litellm')!;
-    expect(r.touchpoints.reranker!.cost_per_1m_tokens_usd).toBeUndefined();
-  });
-
-  test('setup_hint keeps the /v1-suffix guidance AND mentions rerank', () => {
-    const r = getRecipe('litellm')!;
-    expect(r.setup_hint).toMatch(/\/v1 suffix/);
-    expect(r.setup_hint).toMatch(/search\.reranker\.model litellm:/);
-  });
-});
-
-describe('gateway.rerank() URL via litellm recipe', () => {
-  async function capturedRerankUrl(baseUrl?: string): Promise<string> {
-    configureGateway({
-      reranker_model: 'litellm:my-reranker',
-      env: {},
-      ...(baseUrl ? { base_urls: { litellm: baseUrl } } : {}),
-    });
-    let capturedUrl = '';
-    __setRerankTransportForTests(async (url) => {
-      capturedUrl = url;
-      return new Response(
-        JSON.stringify({ results: [{ index: 0, relevance_score: 0.9 }] }),
-        { status: 200, headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' } },
-      );
-    });
-    await rerank({ query: 'q', documents: ['d'] });
-    return capturedUrl;
-  }
-
-  test('default base (no /v1 suffix) → /rerank', async () => {
-    const url = await capturedRerankUrl();
-    expect(url).toBe('http://localhost:4000/rerank');
-  });
-
-  test('/v1-suffixed base → /v1/rerank, NOT /v1/v1/rerank', async () => {
-    const url = await capturedRerankUrl('http://localhost:4000/v1');
-    expect(url).toBe('http://localhost:4000/v1/rerank');
-    expect(url).not.toContain('/v1/v1/');
-  });
-});

test/backlinks.test.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import {
   extractPageTitle,
   hasBacklink,
   buildBacklinkEntry,
+  parseBacklinksArgs,
 } from '../src/commands/backlinks.ts';
 
 describe('extractEntityRefs', () => {
@@ -104,3 +105,26 @@ describe('findBacklinkGaps dedupe (v0.36.x #967 regression)', () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+describe('parseBacklinksArgs', () => {
+  test('uses positional dir for check and fix subcommands', () => {
+    expect(parseBacklinksArgs(['check', '/tmp/brain']).brainDir).toBe('/tmp/brain');
+    expect(parseBacklinksArgs(['fix', '/tmp/brain']).brainDir).toBe('/tmp/brain');
+  });
+
+  test('defaults to cwd when no dir given', () => {
+    expect(parseBacklinksArgs(['check']).brainDir).toBe('.');
+  });
+
+  test('--dir overrides positional dir and preserves dry-run', () => {
+    const parsed = parseBacklinksArgs(['fix', '/tmp/ignored', '--dir', '/tmp/brain', '--dry-run']);
+    expect(parsed.subcommand).toBe('fix');
+    expect(parsed.brainDir).toBe('/tmp/brain');
+    expect(parsed.dryRun).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test('--dir missing its value falls back to positional dir', () => {
+    expect(parseBacklinksArgs(['check', '/tmp/brain', '--dir']).brainDir).toBe('/tmp/brain');
+    expect(parseBacklinksArgs(['check', '--dir', '--dry-run']).brainDir).toBe('.');
+  });
+});