fix(windows): preserve quotes in cmd commands (start_process)

[wonderwhy-er]

Problem

On Windows, start_process corrupts any command containing double quotes when the shell is cmd. Examples that fail today:

• dir "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -> The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
• tasklist /fi "imagename eq firefox.exe" -> ERROR: Invalid argument/option - 'eq'.
• start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -> silently fails to launch

Minimal repro:

echo "hello world" a"b"c
# got:  \"hello world\" a\"b\"c

Root cause

In terminal-manager.ts, the cmd branch of getShellSpawnArgs returns { executable: 'cmd', args: ['/c', command], useShellOption: false }, and executeCommand calls spawn(executable, args, opts) without shell: true. Node/libuv then builds the Windows command line using MSVCRT-style quoting, escaping embedded " as \". cmd.exe does not treat \" as an escape, so the quotes reach cmd mangled and the command breaks. (Node only disables this escaping automatically when shell: true is used, which DC deliberately avoids so it can control login flags.)

Fix

Set windowsVerbatimArguments = true for the cmd branch, so cmd parses its own quoting -- exactly what Node does internally for shell: true.

Scoped to cmd only via a new ShellSpawnConfig.windowsVerbatim flag:

• cmd -> verbatim on (fixed)
• PowerShell / pwsh -> unchanged. Verbatim is wrong for them: it splits a quoted argument like "hello world" into separate tokens. They keep their existing behaviour.
• bash / zsh / fish (incl. WSL) -> unaffected; windowsVerbatimArguments is a no-op outside win32, and these already pass the command as a clean -c argument.
• macOS / Linux -> no behaviour change at all (guarded by process.platform === 'win32').

Testing

Verified on a live local build (Windows 11, Node 24, cmd default shell):

Command (cmd)	Before	After
echo "hello world" a"b"c	\"hello world\" a\"b\"c	"hello world" a"b"c
dir "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"	syntax error	lists the file
tasklist /fi "imagename eq explorer.exe"	Invalid argument 'eq'	works
start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"	nothing	Firefox launches

PowerShell re-checked after scoping: echo "hello world" returns hello world on a single line (correct), confirming no regression.

Summary by CodeRabbit

Bug Fixes

• Enhanced command execution handling on Windows systems to improve reliability and compatibility with the Windows command environment.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: f0bfb151-90c8-449d-838f-5790e1a11d5d

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 7126346 and 4835185.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• src/terminal-manager.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR adds Windows-specific argument handling for cmd.exe. A new windowsVerbatim configuration flag is defined, automatically set for cmd/cmd.exe shells, and applied as the windowsVerbatimArguments spawn option during command execution on Windows to improve argument quoting compatibility.

Changes

Windows cmd.exe Verbatim Argument Handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Config, shell mapping, and runtime application src/terminal-manager.ts	ShellSpawnConfig adds optional windowsVerbatim field; getShellSpawnArgs enables it for cmd/cmd.exe; executeCommand applies windowsVerbatimArguments spawn option on Windows when flag is set.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~8 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP#271: Both PRs modify src/terminal-manager.ts's shell-spawn configuration flow to handle cmd.exe argument quoting via ShellSpawnConfig and related mappings.
• wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP#401: Both PRs modify TerminalManager.executeCommand's child_process.spawn options, adding platform-specific flags (windowsVerbatimArguments vs. windowsHide).
• wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP#484: Both PRs adjust Windows shell-spawn logic in executeCommand, targeting cmd.exe argument and environment handling.

Suggested labels

size:M

Suggested reviewers

• edgarsskore
• serg33v

Poem

🐰 A rabbit hops through Windows paths,
Setting flags for cmd.exe's wrath,
Verbatim arguments, quotes so neat,
Making cmd's behavior complete! ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title directly summarizes the main change: fixing Windows cmd command quote preservation in start_process.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/win-cmd-quote-args

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