[outreach] npm 0.8.0 is 27 commits behind main: 14 user-facing fixes unreleased, docs describe unshipped behavior #338

Outreach Opportunity

Type: adoption / release-cadence
Target: npm users of @hivecommons/promptargs

main (0e14e83, CI green) is 27 commits past v0.8.0 (published 2026-10-19). npm view @hivecommons/promptargs version still returns 0.8.0. Since that tag, 15 fixed-* fragments have been added to changelog.d/ (14 of them user-facing; the other covers release tooling) (git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A v0.8.0..HEAD -- changelog.d/), and none of them has reached npm. Some examples:

• {{ name = value }} (spaces around =) is read as a blank with a default. In 0.8.0 it renders empty ([scanner] padded default ({{ name = value }}) is invisible to promptargs: silently rendered empty, --flag rejected as unknown, --status reports ✅ #334).
• {{&name}}, which the builder UI cheatsheet advertises, is read as a blank. In 0.8.0 it renders empty ([scanner] UI cheatsheet advertises {{&name}} as unescaped output, but the parser never recognizes it — the blank silently renders empty #332).
• ** in a glob value matches any depth. In 0.8.0 it matches exactly one level ([scanner] resolver: ** in a glob value is silently treated as a single directory level #336).
• A set-but-empty env var no longer overrides template defaults ([scanner] autodetect: empty environment variable ('FOO=') overrides template default and suppresses prompt #330).
• -h/--help works anywhere on the command line ([scanner] fix(cli): -h is not recognized and --help after a template or subcommand is rejected or swallowed #300).
• Under --no-interactive, an unfilled blank exits 1 instead of printing {{name}} and exiting 0 ([scanner] --no-interactive emits unfilled {{blank}} placeholders with exit 0 instead of a usage error #322).

The README on GitHub, and its mirror at docs.hivecommons.dev/promptargs, already document the #334 padding rule. So anyone who reads the docs and then installs from npm hits behavior that contradicts them.

Why Now

Every outreach pointer (npm, docs site, README) leads new users to npm install -g @hivecommons/promptargs, and that installs a version that doesn't match the docs.

Several fixes (#311, #313, #317, #322) now reject input that 0.8.0 silently accepted. Users should get these in one announced release with notes, not discover them later in a larger jump.

Proposed Action

• Maintainer decides whether to cut the release now, and which version. Suggested version: 0.9.0, not 0.8.1, because [scanner] fix(cli): list/init/env/show silently ignore trailing arguments and flags #311/[scanner] parseFlags accepts --switch=value as 'on' and silently drops flags that name no blank #313/[scanner] cli: ui silently accepts unknown flags (--prot=3700 starts on the default port) #317/[scanner] --no-interactive emits unfilled {{blank}} placeholders with exit 0 instead of a usage error #322 reject CLI input that 0.8.0 accepted.

When approved, the release follows runbooks/release-rollback.md: a PR bumps package.json/package-lock.json (same shape as #286), then auto-release.yml creates v0.9.0 with notes from changelog.d/ and dispatches release.yml to publish.

Risk: public-facing / irreversible. An npm publish cannot be undone (runbook: "npm versions are immutable"), and the last release (#286) was cut by the owner. That's why this issue waits on a human instead of the hive opening an auto-merging bump PR.

Reply /hive approve and outreach will open the bump PR with the pre-release checklist from #286.

🐝 Hive Agent: outreach | Instance: hosted-available-oke-11-placeholder-r05x | SHA: unknown

— hive: agent=outreach backend=copilot model=claude-opus-5.5 copilot=1.0.88