fix(mcp): print usage help for bare loopover-mcp invocation instead of starting stdio server

[tryeverything24]

Summary

Running loopover-mcp with no arguments — the natural first thing a new user tries — silently started the stdio MCP server and hung waiting for JSON-RPC input, instead of printing usage help.

Two top-level gates in packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.ts caused this:

• The CLI-dispatch gate (if (runAsCliEntrypoint && cliArgs[0] && cliArgs[0] !== "--stdio")) only ran when cliArgs[0] was truthy. A bare invocation leaves cliArgs[0] as undefined, so the whole block was skipped — no runCli, no process.exit.
• Execution then fell through unconditionally to if (runAsCliEntrypoint) await server.connect(new StdioServerTransport()), binding the stdio transport to the real stdin/stdout — the exact effective behavior of loopover-mcp --stdio.

Fix

• Entry gate (:1645): drop the cliArgs[0] && truthiness requirement so a zero-argument invocation reaches runCli([]) instead of falling through to the stdio bind. An explicit --stdio is still routed to the server (its behavior is unchanged).
• runCli (:4105): add command === undefined to the existing --help/help branch so runCli([]) prints the usage banner via printHelp() and returns (exit 0), mirroring the existing help handling rather than reaching the "Unknown command" path.
• runCli is exported as a separate statement (same rationale as the neighboring runAgentCli/maintainCli exports) so an in-process unit test can drive the new branch for Codecov coverage — a bare invocation is otherwise only reachable via subprocess spawn, which v8 coverage cannot instrument.

Only an explicit loopover-mcp --stdio starts the MCP stdio server now; a bare loopover-mcp behaves like every other documented CLI's bare invocation — it prints usage help and exits.

Tests

New dedicated test/unit/mcp-cli-bare-invocation.test.ts:

• In-process (Codecov-attributed): drives runCli([]), runCli(["--help"]), runCli(["help"]) — asserting all three produce byte-identical usage output — plus runCli(["version"]) to exercise the changed condition's false path. This covers the new command === undefined branch's statement and every branch (both if outcomes and all three || operands).
• Subprocess regression: spawns the bare command and asserts it exits 0 without hanging and prints the same banner as --help, proving the end-to-end entry-gate fix.

Closes #8313

[superagent-security]

Superagent didn't find any vulnerabilities or security issues in this PR.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 82.50%. Comparing base (32f37d5) to head (7a18423).
⚠️ Report is 18 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #8486       +/-   ##
===========================================
+ Coverage   66.08%   82.50%   +16.41%     
===========================================
  Files         791       98      -693     
  Lines       79333    24962    -54371     
  Branches    23961     4729    -19232     
===========================================
- Hits        52430    20594    -31836     
+ Misses      22909     4176    -18733     
+ Partials     3994      192     -3802     

Flag	Coverage Δ
shard-1	11.21% <100.00%> (?)
shard-3	?

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
packages/loopover-mcp/bin/loopover-mcp.ts	11.21% <100.00%> (-2.80%)	⬇️

... and 693 files with indirect coverage changes

[loopover-orb]

Tip

✅ LoopOver review result - approve/merge recommended

_{Review updated: 2026-07-24 15:31:28 UTC}

2 files · 1 AI reviewer · no blockers · readiness 93/100 · CI green · clean

✅ Suggested Action - Approve/Merge

• safe to merge

Review summary
The fix directly addresses the described bug: the entry-gate at loopover-mcp.ts:1645 previously required `cliArgs[0]` to be truthy before dispatching to `runCli`, so a bare invocation (`cliArgs[0] === undefined`) fell straight through to the unconditional `server.connect(new StdioServerTransport())`, hanging on stdin. Dropping the truthiness check so the gate is just `cliArgs[0] !== "--stdio"` correctly routes `runCli([])` instead, and the added `command === undefined` operand in runCli's existing help branch (line ~4105) makes that call print the usage banner and return, matching the described contract. The `--stdio` path is unaffected (`"--stdio" !== "--stdio"` is false, so the gate still skips runCli and falls to the stdio bind), and the new test exercises both the in-process branch (for coverage attribution) and a real subprocess spawn asserting the process exits promptly with matching output.

Nits — 3 non-blocking

• The new `export { runCli }` at the bottom of the file widens the module's testable-export surface further; fine given the stated precedent (`runAgentCli`/`maintainCli`), but worth confirming `runCli` isn't relied on elsewhere as an unexported implementation detail.
• The PR body/diff doesn't show an explicit link to an open issue by number/URL in the description provided — only in-code `fix(mcp): bare loopover-mcp invocation silently starts the stdio MCP server instead of printing help #8313` comments reference it; per repo convention every contributor PR needs a clear linked-issue reference, so confirm the actual GitHub PR description links issue fix(mcp): bare loopover-mcp invocation silently starts the stdio MCP server instead of printing help #8313 (or whichever is correct) rather than just code comments.
• None beyond the issue-link confirmation above — the fix is narrowly scoped to the two lines that caused the bug plus a matching test.

Decision drivers

• ✅ Code review — No blockers (1 reviewer)
• ✅ Gate result — Passing (No configured blocker found.)

Context & advisory signals — never blocks the verdict

Signal	Result	Evidence
Linked issue	✅ Linked	#8313
Related work	✅ No active overlap found	No same-issue or scoped active PR overlap found.
Change scope	✅ 20/20	Low review scope from cached public metadata (1 linked issue).
Validation posture	✅ 25/25	PR body includes validation/test evidence.
Contributor workload	✅ 10/10	Author activity: 86 registered-repo PR(s), 38 merged, 4 issue(s).
Contributor context	✅ Confirmed Gittensor contributor	tryeverything24; Gittensor profile; 86 PR(s), 4 issue(s).
Improvement	✅ Minor	risk: clean · value: minor · LLM: moderate

Linked issue satisfaction

Addressed
The diff makes exactly the two changes the issue specifies: the entry gate at line 1645 drops the `cliArgs[0] &&` truthiness check so bare invocation reaches runCli, and runCli's help branch is extended with `command === undefined` to route to printHelp() instead of the stdio bind or unknown-command path, with `--stdio` behavior untouched. A regression test file explicitly asserts bare invocation

Review context

• Author: tryeverything24
• Role context: outside_contributor
• Public audience mode: oss maintainer
• Lane context: Repository is configured for direct PR review.
• Public profile languages: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, C++, Java, PHP, C#
• Official Gittensor activity: 86 PR(s), 4 issue(s).
• PR-specific overlap: none found.

Contributor next steps

• Start here: Triage stale or unlinked PRs.

Signal definitions

• Related work = same linked issue, overlapping active PRs, or title/path similarity.
• Change scope = cached public metadata such as size labels, draft state, and review-burden hints.
• Validation posture = whether the PR provides enough public validation/test evidence for maintainer review.
• Contributor workload = public contributor activity and cleanup pressure, not a repo-wide quality failure.
• Contributor context = public GitHub/Gittensor identity context; non-Gittensor status is not a blocker.

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_{🟩 Safe / merged · 🟦 Advisory · 🟨 Held for review · 🟥 Blocked / closed}

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