fix(freehire-search): reject an unknown --remote mode (#661)

* fix(freehire-search): reject an unknown --remote mode

--remote foo was forwarded as work_mode=foo and the search exited 0 with
an empty result set, so a typo looked like no matching jobs. Validate
against the documented remote|hybrid|onsite values (plus on-site) before
dispatch; a bare --remote still means remote.

* fix(freehire-search): accept comma-separated --remote modes

freehire ORs a comma-separated work_mode, so --remote remote,hybrid is
a valid query. Split --remote on commas, normalise each item (on-site
becomes onsite) and re-join them. An unknown item such as foo in
remote,foo still exits 1 with BAD_ARG naming that item.

* changelog: place the #661 entry under [Unreleased]

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Matt Van Horn <455140+mvanhorn@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Mads Lorentzen <madslorentzen_17@hotmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.agents/skills/freehire-search/SKILL.md

@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ Facet filters (values come from freehire's controlled vocabularies; comma-separa
 - `--category <cats>` — `backend`, `frontend`, `fullstack`, `devops`, `ml_ai`, `qa`, …
 - `--skill <names>` — canonical skill(s), e.g. `--skill go,kubernetes`
 - `--company <slug>` — company slug (from a result's `company_slug`)
-- `--remote <mode>` — `remote` | `hybrid` | `onsite` (`work_mode` facet)
+- `--remote <mode>` — `remote` | `hybrid` | `onsite` (`work_mode` facet). A bare `--remote` means `remote`. Comma-separate for OR (`remote,hybrid`; `on-site` normalises to `onsite`). An unknown item exits 1 with `BAD_ARG`.
 - `--facet <key=value>` — any other facet param (repeatable), e.g. `--facet salary_min=100000`
 
 > **Location is a facet, not free text.** Unlike `linkedin-search`'s `--location`,

.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts

@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ FACET FILTERS (values from freehire.me's controlled vocabularies; comma = OR)
   --skill <names>         Canonical skill(s), e.g. --skill go,kubernetes
   --company <slug>        Company slug (from a result's company_slug).
   --remote <mode>         remote | hybrid | onsite (work_mode facet).
+                          A bare --remote means remote. Comma = OR. Unknown values exit 1.
   --facet <key=value>     Any other facet param (repeatable), e.g. --facet salary_min=100000
 
 DETAIL
@@ -117,6 +118,42 @@ Reads are public (no API key). Source: ${baseUrl()} — a personal project,
 best-effort, no SLA. Override with FREEHIRE_API_URL to use a self-hosted backend.
 `
 
+const WORK_MODES = ["remote", "hybrid", "onsite"] as const
+type WorkMode = (typeof WORK_MODES)[number]
+
+/**
+ * Map --remote to the work_mode facet.
+ * A bare --remote (boolean true) is the documented "remote" shortcut.
+ * Comma-separated values are OR: each item is normalised (`on-site` ->
+ * `onsite`) and re-joined. An unknown item is rejected (the API treats it
+ * as a filter that matches nothing) and `bad` names that item.
+ */
+function parseWorkMode(raw: FlagValue): { value?: string; bad?: string } {
+  if (raw === undefined) return {}
+  if (raw === true) return { value: "remote" }
+  if (typeof raw !== "string" || !raw.trim()) return { bad: String(raw) }
+  const modes: WorkMode[] = []
+  for (const item of raw.split(",")) {
+    const token = item.trim()
+    if (!token) continue
+    switch (token.toLowerCase()) {
+      case "remote":
+        modes.push("remote")
+        break
+      case "hybrid":
+        modes.push("hybrid")
+        break
+      case "onsite":
+      case "on-site":
+        modes.push("onsite")
+        break
+      default:
+        return { bad: token }
+    }
+  }
+  return modes.length > 0 ? { value: modes.join(",") } : { bad: raw.trim() }
+}
+
 function parseIntFlag(name: string, raw: string | boolean | string[]): number | null {
   // Number(), not parseInt(): parseInt truncates, so "--jobage 0.5" became 0,
   // which fails search.ts's `jobage > 0` guard and silently drops
@@ -234,6 +271,17 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       facets[key] = (facets[key] ?? []).concat(vals)
     }
 
+    const parsedRemote = parseWorkMode(flags.remote)
+    if (parsedRemote.bad !== undefined) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          error: `--remote must be one of remote|hybrid|onsite, got "${parsedRemote.bad}"`,
+          code: "BAD_ARG",
+        }) + "\n",
+      )
+      return 1
+    }
+
     const opts: SearchOpts = {
       query: stringFlag(flags.query),
       jobage: flags.jobage ? parseInt(flags.jobage as string, 10) : 9999,
@@ -249,8 +297,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<number> {
       category: commaList(flags.category),
       skills: commaList(flags.skill),
       company: stringFlag(flags.company),
-      // --remote <mode> takes the given work_mode; a bare --remote means "remote".
+      workMode: parsedRemote.value,
-      workMode: stringFlag(flags.remote, "remote"),
       facets,
     }
     return runSearch(opts)

.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/tests/remote-mode.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+import { describe, test, expect } from "bun:test";
+import { runCLI } from "./helpers";
+
+function parsedStderr(stderr: string): { error?: string; code?: string } {
+  try {
+    return JSON.parse(stderr);
+  } catch {
+    return {};
+  }
+}
+
+async function searchRemote(args: string[]): Promise<{ result: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof runCLI>>; requests: URL[] }> {
+  const requests: URL[] = [];
+  const server = Bun.serve({
+    hostname: "127.0.0.1",
+    port: 0,
+    fetch(request) {
+      requests.push(new URL(request.url));
+      return Response.json({ data: [], meta: { total: 0 } });
+    },
+  });
+  try {
+    const result = await runCLI(["search", "-q", "go", "--limit", "1", ...args], {
+      FREEHIRE_API_URL: server.url.toString(),
+    });
+    return { result, requests };
+  } finally {
+    server.stop(true);
+  }
+}
+
+describe("--remote work_mode validation", () => {
+  test("--remote foo exits 1 with BAD_ARG and does not call the API", async () => {
+    const { result, requests } = await searchRemote(["--remote", "foo"]);
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.stdout).toBe("");
+    expect(parsedStderr(result.stderr).code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+    expect(parsedStderr(result.stderr).error).toContain("--remote");
+    expect(parsedStderr(result.stderr).error).toContain("foo");
+    expect(requests).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test("comma-separated modes are normalised and re-joined", async () => {
+    for (const [flag, expected] of [
+      ["remote,hybrid", "remote,hybrid"],
+      ["remote,on-site", "remote,onsite"],
+    ] as const) {
+      const { result, requests } = await searchRemote(["--remote", flag]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(result.stderr).toBe("");
+      expect(requests).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(requests[0].searchParams.get("work_mode")).toBe(expected);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("--remote remote,foo exits 1 with BAD_ARG naming foo and does not call the API", async () => {
+    const { result, requests } = await searchRemote(["--remote", "remote,foo"]);
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.stdout).toBe("");
+    expect(parsedStderr(result.stderr).code).toBe("BAD_ARG");
+    expect(parsedStderr(result.stderr).error).toContain('"foo"');
+    expect(requests).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test("documented modes and on-site reach work_mode", async () => {
+    for (const [flag, expected] of [
+      ["remote", "remote"],
+      ["hybrid", "hybrid"],
+      ["onsite", "onsite"],
+      ["on-site", "onsite"],
+      ["Remote", "remote"],
+    ] as const) {
+      const { result, requests } = await searchRemote(["--remote", flag]);
+      expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(result.stderr).toBe("");
+      expect(requests).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(requests[0].searchParams.get("work_mode")).toBe(expected);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("bare --remote still means work_mode=remote", async () => {
+    const { result, requests } = await searchRemote(["--remote"]);
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(requests).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(requests[0].searchParams.get("work_mode")).toBe("remote");
+  });
+
+  test("omitting --remote does not send work_mode", async () => {
+    const { result, requests } = await searchRemote([]);
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(requests).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(requests[0].searchParams.has("work_mode")).toBe(false);
+  });
+});

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -203,6 +203,8 @@ per-file diff commands.
   web search only for that last escalation step, finding the employer's own copy of the posting; company research and salary
   lookups stay out of `/rank`.
 
+- **`freehire-search` rejects an unknown `--remote` mode instead of searching a facet that matches nothing** (#661, `.agents/skills/freehire-search/cli/src/cli.ts`, `cli/tests/remote-mode.test.ts`) - `--remote foo` was forwarded as `work_mode=foo` and the CLI exited 0 with an empty result set, so a typo looked like "no jobs". The documented `remote` / `hybrid` / `onsite` values, mixed case, and `on-site` now map to the facet; a bare `--remote` still means `remote`. Comma-separated modes are validated per item and re-joined (`remote,hybrid`, `remote,on-site` → `remote,onsite`); an unknown item such as `foo` in `remote,foo` exits 1 with `BAD_ARG` and does not call the API.
+
 ### Security
 
 - **CI no longer leaves the job token in `.git/config` or expands a PR-controlled name into a