Bug: -n flag ignored when prompt contains special characters

[that-github-user]

Summary

When running thinktank run "$PROMPT" -n 5, the -n 5 flag was ignored and only 3 agents (the default) were spawned. The prompt was loaded from a file via PROMPT=$(cat .thinktank/prompt.txt).

Suspected cause

The prompt text likely contains characters that confuse commander's argument parser. When the prompt string expands, it may contain sequences that look like flags or consume the -n argument.

Steps to reproduce

echo "Some long prompt with special chars" > .thinktank/prompt.txt
PROMPT=$(cat .thinktank/prompt.txt)
npx tsx src/cli.ts run "$PROMPT" -n 5 -t "npm test"
# Expected: 5 agents
# Actual: 3 agents (default)

Proposed investigation

1. Check if newlines in the prompt break commander's parsing
2. Check if -n inside the prompt text is consumed as the flag
3. Consider requiring quotes around the prompt argument or using stdin

Acceptance criteria

• Root cause identified
• -n 5 respected regardless of prompt content
• Test case for prompts with special characters

[that-github-user]

Fixed in #90. Added --file flag and stdin support to avoid shell expansion issues. resolvePrompt() handles file → arg → stdin with clear errors. 5 new tests. Generated by thinktank Opus.