fix(search): scoped search must handle repo paths containing spaces

src/mcp/mcp.c

@@ -3857,10 +3857,13 @@ static void build_grep_cmd(char *cmd, size_t cmd_sz, bool use_regex, bool scoped
     const char *flag = use_regex ? "-E" : "-F";
     if (scoped) {
         if (file_pattern) {
-            snprintf(cmd, cmd_sz, "xargs grep -Hn %s --include='%s' -f '%s' < '%s' 2>/dev/null",
+            /* -0: read NUL-separated paths from the filelist so paths containing
+             * spaces stay one argument (issue #687). Pairs with the NUL separator
+             * written by write_scoped_filelist. */
+            snprintf(cmd, cmd_sz, "xargs -0 grep -Hn %s --include='%s' -f '%s' < '%s' 2>/dev/null",
                      flag, file_pattern, tmpfile, filelist);
         } else {
-            snprintf(cmd, cmd_sz, "xargs grep -Hn %s -f '%s' < '%s' 2>/dev/null", flag, tmpfile,
+            snprintf(cmd, cmd_sz, "xargs -0 grep -Hn %s -f '%s' < '%s' 2>/dev/null", flag, tmpfile,
                      filelist);
         }
     } else {
@@ -4276,10 +4279,22 @@ static bool write_scoped_filelist(cbm_mcp_server_t *srv, const char *project, co
     bool ok = false;
     if (fl) {
         for (int fi = 0; fi < indexed_count; fi++) {
-            /* Use forward slashes so xargs doesn't interpret Windows
-             * backslashes as escape sequences (e.g. \n becomes newline).
-             * Binary mode to prevent CRLF (xargs would see trailing \r). */
-            (void)fprintf(fl, "%s/%s\n", root_path, indexed_files[fi]);
+            /* Write "<root>/<file>" piece-by-piece (no fixed-size buffer, so an
+             * arbitrarily long absolute path cannot overflow). Forward slash join
+             * so xargs doesn't treat Windows backslashes as escapes; binary mode
+             * (wb) prevents CRLF translation. Record separator differs by platform:
+             *   - Unix: NUL, consumed by `xargs -0` — handles spaces in paths (a
+             *     newline separator would split plain xargs on the space).
+             *   - Windows: newline, consumed by PowerShell `Get-Content |
+             *     Select-String -LiteralPath` (NUL bytes break Get-Content). */
+            (void)fwrite(root_path, 1, strlen(root_path), fl);
+            (void)fputc('/', fl);
+            (void)fwrite(indexed_files[fi], 1, strlen(indexed_files[fi]), fl);
+#ifdef _WIN32
+            (void)fputc('\n', fl);
+#else
+            (void)fputc('\0', fl);
+#endif
         }
         (void)fclose(fl);
         ok = true;

tests/test_mcp.c

@@ -1304,6 +1304,81 @@ TEST(search_code_multi_word) {
     PASS();
 }
 
+/* Reproduce-first (#687): scoped content search over a repo whose ROOT PATH
+ * contains a space. write_scoped_filelist emits "<root>/<file>" records that the
+ * Unix pipeline pipes to grep via xargs. With plain `xargs` (newline-split) the
+ * space splits one path into several bogus args -> grep finds nothing ->
+ * total_grep_matches == 0 (RED on the unfixed code). The fix writes NUL-separated
+ * records + uses `xargs -0`, so the path stays a single argument -> match found
+ * (GREEN). On Windows the scoped path uses PowerShell Get-Content -LiteralPath,
+ * which already handles spaces, so this asserts correct behavior there too. */
+TEST(search_code_scoped_path_with_spaces_issue687) {
+    char tmp[512];
+    snprintf(tmp, sizeof(tmp), "/tmp/cbm_srch_space_XXXXXX");
+    if (!cbm_mkdtemp(tmp)) {
+        FAIL("cbm_mkdtemp failed");
+    }
+
+    /* Project root deliberately contains a space. */
+    char proj_dir[640];
+    snprintf(proj_dir, sizeof(proj_dir), "%s/my project", tmp);
+    cbm_mkdir(proj_dir);
+
+    char src_path[768];
+    snprintf(src_path, sizeof(src_path), "%s/main.go", proj_dir);
+    FILE *fp = fopen(src_path, "w");
+    if (!fp) {
+        rmdir(proj_dir);
+        rmdir(tmp);
+        FAIL("cannot write source file under spaced path");
+    }
+    fprintf(fp, "package main\n\nfunc HandleRequest() error {\n\treturn nil\n}\n");
+    fclose(fp);
+
+    cbm_mcp_server_t *srv = cbm_mcp_server_new(NULL);
+    ASSERT_NOT_NULL(srv);
+    cbm_store_t *st = cbm_mcp_server_store(srv);
+    ASSERT_NOT_NULL(st);
+    const char *proj = "space-search";
+    cbm_mcp_server_set_project(srv, proj);
+    cbm_store_upsert_project(st, proj, proj_dir);
+
+    /* A node so the file is "indexed" (cbm_store_list_files -> scoped grep path)
+     * and the grep hit classifies to a result. */
+    cbm_node_t n = {.project = proj,
+                    .label = "Function",
+                    .name = "HandleRequest",
+                    .qualified_name = "space-search.main.HandleRequest",
+                    .file_path = "main.go",
+                    .start_line = 3,
+                    .end_line = 5};
+    ASSERT_GT(cbm_store_upsert_node(st, &n), 0);
+
+    char *resp = cbm_mcp_server_handle(
+        srv, "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":94,\"method\":\"tools/call\","
+             "\"params\":{\"name\":\"search_code\","
+             "\"arguments\":{\"pattern\":\"HandleRequest\",\"project\":\"space-search\"}}}");
+    ASSERT_NOT_NULL(resp);
+    char *inner = extract_text_content(resp);
+    ASSERT_NOT_NULL(inner);
+
+    /* grep must have found the match despite the space in the root path. */
+    int grep_matches = -1;
+    const char *g = strstr(inner, "\"total_grep_matches\":");
+    if (g) {
+        sscanf(g, "\"total_grep_matches\":%d", &grep_matches);
+    }
+    ASSERT_TRUE(grep_matches > 0);
+
+    free(inner);
+    free(resp);
+    cbm_mcp_server_free(srv);
+    unlink(src_path);
+    rmdir(proj_dir);
+    rmdir(tmp);
+    PASS();
+}
+
 /* issue #283: search_code with regex=true and a syntactically invalid pattern
  * must return an explicit error, not an empty result indistinguishable from a
  * legitimate no-match. */
@@ -3248,6 +3323,7 @@ SUITE(mcp) {
     RUN_TEST(tool_search_code_missing_pattern);
     RUN_TEST(tool_search_code_no_project);
     RUN_TEST(search_code_multi_word);
+    RUN_TEST(search_code_scoped_path_with_spaces_issue687);
     RUN_TEST(search_code_invalid_regex_errors_issue283);
     RUN_TEST(search_code_literal_pipe_warns_issue282);
     RUN_TEST(search_code_ampersand_accepted_issue272);