fix: dl -- <cmd> re-splits every quoted argument it is given

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.36.0] - 2026-09-09
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - **Editing prose under `.devcontainer/` no longer throws away the prebuilt
@@ -41,6 +43,36 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   context, so this commit moves the tag once; launches build locally until
   `devcontainer-prebuild.yml` republishes on `main`.
 
+- **`dl <ws> -- <command>` no longer re-splits a quoted argument, and no longer
+  runs one as shell.** The words after `--` were rejoined with plain spaces and
+  handed to `bash -lc` as a command line, so every space the host's shell had
+  already consumed became a separator again. `dl <ws> -- claude 'fix the bug'`
+  arrived as four arguments where one was meant. Each word is quoted now
+  (`shell::join`), so the remote argv is the argv that was typed.
+
+  Two consequences beyond the splitting, both of them silent. A word holding `#`
+  commented out the rest of the line: a supervisor sending
+  `claude 'Address the open review on PR #10848 (...)'` reached the agent as the
+  single word `Address`, and everything after the `#` -- the whole prompt,
+  including every rule it carried -- was discarded by the remote shell before
+  `claude` ran. And a word holding `$(...)` or a backtick was *executed*, in a
+  workspace that has the forwarded `GH_TOKEN`, which made any text flowing into
+  a `dl --` command line (a PR title, a review body) shell code.
+
+  `aid` composed its own line and passed it as one word, which survived only
+  because the rejoin was an identity on a single argument. It hands dl argv now
+  and quotes nothing itself. The composed payload is byte for byte what it was:
+  a bare `NAME=value` needs no quoting, so the assignment-prefix spelling the
+  README documents still reaches the shell as one.
+
+  A shell snippet is still asked for by naming a shell -- `dl <ws> -- bash -lc
+  'a && b'` -- and that spelling was broken before this too, running `bash -lc a`
+  and then `b`. Passing a snippet as a single word no longer works, because a
+  single word is now a program name: `dl <ws> -- 'exit 7'` looks for a program
+  called `exit 7` and exits 127 where it used to exit 7. The e2e probes were the
+  only callers in the tree spelling it that way, and they name `bash -lc` now.
+  `dl <ws> -- ""` went from exit 0 to 127 for the same reason.
+
 ## [0.35.0] - 2026-09-09
 
 ### Added

README.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ one argument instead of a clone, a config file and a build command.
 [![GitHub pull-requests merged](https://badgen.net/github/merged-prs/blooop/devlaunch)](https://github.com/blooop/devlaunch/pulls?q=is%3Amerged)
 [![GitHub release](https://img.shields.io/github/release/blooop/devlaunch.svg)](https://GitHub.com/blooop/devlaunch/releases/)
 [![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/devlaunch)](https://pypi.org/project/devlaunch/)
-[![Conda](https://img.shields.io/badge/conda-v0.35.0-brightgreen?logo=anaconda)](https://prefix.dev/channels/blooop/packages/devlaunch)
+[![Conda](https://img.shields.io/badge/conda-v0.36.0-brightgreen?logo=anaconda)](https://prefix.dev/channels/blooop/packages/devlaunch)
 [![License](https://img.shields.io/github/license/blooop/devlaunch)](https://opensource.org/license/mit/)
 [![Platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/platform-linux--64-blue)](https://github.com/blooop/devlaunch/releases)
 [![Pixi Badge](https://img.shields.io/endpoint?url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prefix-dev/pixi/main/assets/badge/v0.json)](https://pixi.sh)
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ clone, and [docs/cleanup.md](docs/cleanup.md) says what it carries one past and
 
 ```bash
 $ dl --version
-dl 0.35.0
+dl 0.36.0
 ```
 
 `--devcontainer <variant|path>` picks a non-default `devcontainer.json`. A bare name means

docs/cli.md

@@ -100,6 +100,37 @@ that clone last fetched, the attach says how far behind before it hands over the
 shell. [How fresh a launch is](workspaces.md#how-fresh-a-launch-is) is the whole
 of the freshness rules, and the section under it names which verb moves what.
 
+## What `--` takes
+
+The command and its arguments, one word each. `dl` quotes every word on the way
+into the remote payload, so a quoted argument stays one argument: `dl <ws> --
+claude 'fix the bug'` runs `claude` with a single argument, and a word holding a
+space, a `#`, a `$(...)` or a backtick is that word rather than shell syntax.
+
+It has to be built that way because the payload is one `bash -lc <line>` for both
+transports. The words used to be rejoined with plain spaces, which gave the remote
+shell back every separator your own shell had already consumed: quoted arguments
+were re-split, a `#` commented out the rest of the line, and a `$(...)` ran.
+
+One exception, and it is deliberate. The quoting leaves a word alone when it needs
+none, and `=` counts as needing none, so a leading `NAME=value` still reaches the
+shell as an assignment prefix and sets that variable for that command only. That
+is what makes `dl <ws> -- IS_SANDBOX=1 claude ...` work, which is the spelling
+`aid` uses and the one the README shows.
+
+The exception ends where the quoting begins, and it ends abruptly. It is the
+whole word that has to need no quoting, value included, so `FOO=bar` is an
+assignment and `FOO='a b'` is not: the value's space makes the word
+`'FOO=a b'`, and a shell reads a quoted word as a program name, so the command
+exits 127 with the variable never set. Values made of `[A-Za-z0-9_@%+=:,./-]`
+are the ones that survive. For anything else, name the shell and write the
+assignment inside it: `dl <ws> -- bash -lc 'FOO="a b" cmd'`.
+
+A shell snippet is a command like any other, so name the shell: `dl <ws> -- bash
+-lc 'a && b'`. Redirections and pipes typed on your own command line belong to
+your own shell and never reach `dl`, which is what makes `dl <ws> -- ls >
+files.txt` write the file here.
+
 ## Commands that need a terminal
 
 `dl <ws> -- <command>` gives the command a terminal whenever `dl` itself has one,

rust/Cargo.toml

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ members = [
 # The single source of the version (docs/rust-rewrite-plan.md: cutover ships
 # 0.1.0, version read from Cargo.toml).
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.35.0"
+version = "0.36.0"
 edition = "2024"
 license = "MIT"
 repository = "https://github.com/blooop/devlaunch"