Assert error codes instead of sentences in remove's covgap suite and add shared JSON assertion helpers #1090

[agent] Filed by the scheduled architecture audit routine (CLI and core). Register: discussion #560 register.

Kind: refactor. Source: Part 8.5 G/H (register C32). Child 1 of #1089. Measured on main @ 05ecc6e.

Problem

remove/covgap_commands_remove.rs (2,127 lines, 35 tests) pins 27 sentences of four or more words. Some examples:

• "Removed 1 patch from manifest:" appears 4 times (L832, L1224, L1548, L1650).
• "The manifest was not modified." (L435, L985).
• "cannot restore pkg:npm/left-pad@1.3.0 to its upstream registry entry" (L982, L1014).
• "Warning: blob cleanup failed", "…diffs cleanup failed" and "…packages cleanup failed" (L1654-L1662).

remove already emits the typed envelope (status, error.code, events[], summary). The file even has parse_envelope/event_purls helpers (L36-L55), but they are private to this file, while sibling suites re-implement them. Several tests are _json/_human twins over the same path, for example L332-L405.

Symptoms: none filed. The cost shows up as churn in copy-edit PRs such as #248 and #1043.

Proposed change

1. Add tests/common/envelope.rs with:

   • parse_envelope(stdout);
   • assert_error_code(&Value, &str);
   • event_codes(&Value) -> Vec<(action, code)>;
   • event_purls(&Value, action).

   Delete this file's private copies.

2. Rewrite each sentence assertion as the equivalent --json assertion: the error code, event action/code, summary count, or the file bytes on disk.

3. Delete each _human twin whose _json sibling covers the path. Where the human rendering is the point (the prompt text at L1854-L1862), keep one assertion per message family.

4. Rename the file into the remove suite (for example remove/remove_failure_paths.rs) when done.

Size and scope

• About −400/+250 test lines and no production change.
• Out of scope: other covgap files (later children of Tracking: assert stable codes instead of human sentences in CLI tests, and fold the covgap suites #1089) and any message wording change.

Acceptance criteria

• At most 3 sentence (4+-word) .contains assertions remain in the file, each in a render-focused test.
• cargo test -p socket-patch-cli --test remove (or the renamed target) is green, as are the whole CLI tests.
• Coverage of commands/remove.rs is not lower than on main (coverage job).
• tests/common/envelope.rs is used by this file and documented for the next children.

Dependencies

• Blocked by nothing.
• Blocks the later children of Tracking: assert stable codes instead of human sentences in CLI tests, and fold the covgap suites #1089, which reuse the helpers.

Backlog review — 2026-10-08

Consolidated into #1089. The retained tracker(s) preserve this issue’s implementation scope and acceptance criteria. Closing this separate scheduling item as not planned, not as completed.

Explicit remove-test child of the stable-error-code test tracker; keep it as a checklist step.