From aea7dcb5ecc0dfa1f2325194ee81fcef0dab20c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Aditya Garud <153842990+yashranaway@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2026 17:02:43 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(cli): emit JSON for recording validation errors

---
 apps/cli/src/record.rs | 36 ++++++++++++------------------------
 apps/cli/tests/cli.rs  | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/cli/src/record.rs b/apps/cli/src/record.rs
index 7ffa7b45966..b628a154a9f 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/record.rs
+++ b/apps/cli/src/record.rs
@@ -173,6 +173,18 @@ pub struct RecordStopArgs {
 impl RecordStart {
     pub async fn run(self, json: bool) -> Result<(), String> {
         let format = resolve_format(json, self.format);
+        match self.run_inner(format).await {
+            Ok(()) => Ok(()),
+            Err(error) => {
+                if format == OutputFormat::Json {
+                    let _ = write_json_line(&RecordEvent::Error { error: &error });
+                }
+                Err(error)
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    async fn run_inner(self, format: OutputFormat) -> Result<(), String> {
         self.params.validate()?;
         if self.detach {
             run_detached(self.params, format).await
@@ -183,18 +195,6 @@ impl RecordStart {
 }
 
 async fn run_foreground(params: RecordParams, format: OutputFormat) -> Result<(), String> {
-    match foreground_inner(params, format).await {
-        Ok(()) => Ok(()),
-        Err(error) => {
-            if format == OutputFormat::Json {
-                let _ = write_json_line(&RecordEvent::Error { error: &error });
-            }
-            Err(error)
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-async fn foreground_inner(params: RecordParams, format: OutputFormat) -> Result<(), String> {
     let interactive = std::io::stdin().is_terminal();
 
     // Without --duration the recorder blocks for a stop signal. A non-interactive caller (agent, CI,
@@ -250,18 +250,6 @@ fn automation_mode(mode: RecordMode) -> cap_automation::AutomationRecordingMode
 }
 
 async fn run_detached(params: RecordParams, format: OutputFormat) -> Result<(), String> {
-    match detached_inner(params, format).await {
-        Ok(()) => Ok(()),
-        Err(error) => {
-            if format == OutputFormat::Json {
-                let _ = write_json_line(&RecordEvent::Error { error: &error });
-            }
-            Err(error)
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-async fn detached_inner(params: RecordParams, format: OutputFormat) -> Result<(), String> {
     let recording_id = new_recording_id();
     // Validate the target up front so a bad --screen/--window fails fast with a clear message rather
     // than surfacing later from the background worker's log.
diff --git a/apps/cli/tests/cli.rs b/apps/cli/tests/cli.rs
index 14d3b52fbed..69243786bdc 100644
--- a/apps/cli/tests/cli.rs
+++ b/apps/cli/tests/cli.rs
@@ -372,6 +372,36 @@ fn record_rejects_zero_fps() {
     assert!(!output.status.success());
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn record_validation_failures_emit_json_error_events() {
+    for command in [
+        &["record"][..],
+        &["record", "start"][..],
+        &["record", "start", "--detach"][..],
+    ] {
+        for json_flag in [&["--json"][..], &["--format", "json"][..]] {
+            for (params, expected_error) in [
+                (&["--duration", "0"][..], "Duration"),
+                (&["--duration", "NaN"][..], "Duration"),
+                (&["--duration", "inf"][..], "Duration"),
+                (&["--fps", "0", "--duration", "1"][..], "--fps"),
+                (&["--duration", "1"][..], "No target specified"),
+            ] {
+                let mut args = command.to_vec();
+                args.extend_from_slice(json_flag);
+                args.extend_from_slice(params);
+                let output = run(&args);
+                assert_eq!(output.status.code(), Some(1), "args: {args:?}");
+                let json = parse_json(&output);
+                assert_eq!(json["type"], "error", "args: {args:?}");
+                let error = json["error"].as_str().expect("expected an error message");
+                assert!(error.contains(expected_error), "args: {args:?}: {error}");
+                assert!(stderr(&output).contains(error), "args: {args:?}");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn export_rejects_settings_json_with_flags() {
     let output = run(&[