[BUG] Issue with Auto-Approve - Wildcards

[ScotterMonk]

Problem (one or two sentences)

Asterisk wildcard not working for me

Scenario
In BRRR mode.

When my "Githubber" mode tries to do a commit, it hangs and waits for permission.

In the moment, when it hangs, if I try giving it auto-approve permission for now and future by check-boxing "git", it is added to the auto-approve list but it does not give, for example, something like, git commit -m "Fix nav bar dark mode" ability to auto-approve. I have to spell all of that out as a full auto-approve item.

So... is there a way to wildcard?

• "Git*" does not act as wildcard.
• "Git *" does not act as wildcard.

Unexpected behavior in files containing auto-approve items:

(Moved to its own issue)

Ideas? Clues?

Context (who is affected and when)

See "Problem".

Reproduction steps

Windows 11, latest Roo.
See "Problem".

Expected result

See "Problem".

Actual result

See "Problem".

Variations tried (optional)

No response

App Version

Latest

API Provider (optional)

None

Model Used (optional)

No response

Roo Code Task Links (optional)

No response

Relevant logs or errors (optional)

[roomote]

I have analyzed this issue and here is my proposed implementation plan:

Analysis

The auto-approve system already uses prefix matching under the hood -- adding git to the allowed commands list will match git commit -m "Fix nav bar", git push, etc. However, users naturally try glob-style wildcards like git* or git *, which fail because the trailing * is treated as a literal character (only a standalone * is recognized as "match everything").

The settings confusion (Issue 2) comes from the fact that allowed commands are merged from two sources: VS Code global state (managed by the Roo UI) and VS Code workspace/user settings.json (roo-code.allowedCommands). Editing settings.json alone does not remove items stored in global state, making it seem like changes are ignored.

Proposed Changes

1. Support trailing-wildcard patterns in command matching (src/core/auto-approval/commands.ts)

In findLongestPrefixMatch(), strip any trailing * characters from prefixes before doing the startsWith check. This means:

• git* would be normalized to git and match any command starting with git
• git * would be normalized to git and match commands like git commit ... but not gitk
• The existing standalone * (match-all) behavior remains unchanged
• For match-length comparison purposes, the original prefix length (including *) is preserved

2. Improve UI description text for allowed commands (webview-ui/src/i18n/locales/en/settings.json)

Update the description for the allowed commands section to clarify that entries work as prefixes (e.g., "git" matches all git commands), and that trailing wildcards like git* are also supported.

3. Add tests for the new wildcard behavior (src/core/auto-approval/__tests__/commands.spec.ts)

Add test cases covering:

• git* matching git commit -m "..."
• git * matching git commit but not gitk
• Trailing * interaction with the deny list
• Multiple trailing * characters being stripped correctly

This approach is minimal, backward-compatible, and addresses the core UX issue without introducing complex glob/regex support.

Please mention @roomote in a comment saying that you approve this plan, and I will proceed with the implementation.

[ScotterMonk]

@roomote I approve of this plan!

[roomote]

Thanks for the approval! I've seen your comment and will proceed with the implementation now. I'll open a PR to share progress shortly.

[roomote]

Opened a draft PR with my attempt at addressing this: #11759

The PR strips trailing * characters from command prefixes so that patterns like git* and git * work as expected in the auto-approve allowed commands list. All existing and new tests pass. Feedback welcome!