[Bug]: lifecycle.sh line 529: EXIT_USAGE unbound variable blocks all lifecycle progression

[kryptobaseddev]

What happened?

Description

The lifecycle.progress operation fails with an unbound variable error, blocking ALL lifecycle stage progression for epics.

Reproduction

cleo_mutate domain=lifecycle operation=progress params={epicId: T016, stage: research, status: done}

Expected

Lifecycle stage recorded successfully.

Actual

{
  "success": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "E_UNKNOWN",
    "exitCode": 1,
    "message": "/home/keatonhoskins/.cleo/scripts/lifecycle.sh: line 529: EXIT_USAGE: unbound variable"
  }
}

Impact

This blocks all lifecycle stage progression for epics. No epic can be advanced through research → implementation → testing → release stages. This is critical for version management workflows.

Environment

• CLEO version: 0.94.0
• Platform: linux

Severity: critical
Area: mcp

Are you using an AI agent?

Yes - AI agent filed this issue

---

Environment

Component	Version
CLEO	0.94.0
Bash	5.3.0(1)-release
jq	jq-1.8.1
OS	Linux 6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64 x86_64
Shell	bash
gh CLI	gh version 2.86.0 (2026-01-21)
Install	/home/keatonhoskins/.local/bin/cleo

[kryptobaseddev]

Fixed in v0.95.1

Root cause: EXIT_USAGE was used 30 times throughout lifecycle.sh but never defined. Combined with set -euo pipefail (the u flag causes unbound variables to be fatal), any code path hitting input validation caused an immediate crash.

Fix: Defined EXIT_USAGE=${EXIT_USAGE_ERROR:-64} at the top of scripts/lifecycle.sh. Code 64 is EX_USAGE from sysexits.h, matching the convention used elsewhere in the codebase.

Task: T4439

[kryptobaseddev]

Follow-up fix in v0.95.2

The v0.95.1 fix resolved the EXIT_USAGE unbound variable but exposed the next error: error_json function doesn't exist in the codebase. The correct function is output_error (from lib/core/error-json.sh). Replaced all 12 calls to error_json with output_error in scripts/lifecycle.sh.

Both issues (unbound variable + wrong function name) are now fixed in v0.95.2.