---
name: alchemy-note-double-dash-tokens-parse-as-flags
description: an alchemy dispatch/comment NOTE containing a `--flag`-shaped token is refused as "unknown flag" — the shell tokenizes the whole tail, so prose that quotes a CLI flag never lands
metadata:
  type: feedback
---

2026-09-07 00:30Z: `spt shell cmd alchemy-0 dispatch "#249 todlando … --no-fail-fast …"` answered
`error: unknown flag --no-fail-fast;` and dispatched nothing. The note text is not opaque — the shell
parses the composite tail as argv, so any `--word` inside prose is read as a verb flag.

**Why:** the failure is loud but easy to misread as a syntax slip in MY verb; the dispatch simply did
not happen, and a builder waiting on "fixes #N" sees silence.

**How to apply:** keep `--` tokens out of alchemy notes (say "nextest never fail-fast", not the flag);
after any dispatch, confirm the answer names `owner/repo#N` and the state flipped to WIP before telling
the builder it is theirs. Kin: [[backticks-in-a-double-quoted-message-body-execute]] — prose that
carries command syntax gets EXECUTED or PARSED by the carrier.