fix(operator): answer bare skills and repos in mqlaunch's own words

[MCamner]

Second fix from the P2 operator inventory. Message, usage and next step only — no underlying functionality changed.

Measured

$ mqlaunch skills
usage: mq-skills.py [-h] [--repo REPO] {audit,validate,new} ...
mq-skills.py: error: the following arguments are required: command   exit 2

$ mqlaunch repos
GitHub repo picker needs a terminal.                                 exit 1

skills hands the operator the delegate's file name and argparse's phrasing for a command typed as mqlaunch skills. repos names a subject that never appeared in the command line — bare repos routes to the hub, which is an interactive picker — and offers no way forward, even though six repos subcommands work fine headless.

After

$ mqlaunch skills
Usage: mqlaunch skills <command> [args]

Commands: audit, validate, new                                       exit 2

$ mqlaunch repos
mqlaunch repos with no command opens the repo hub, which needs a terminal.

Usage: mqlaunch repos <command> [args]

Commands: list, status, roadmaps, skills, wiki-status, diff-summary   exit 1

Both reuse print_namespace_help, so the verb lists stay in the one place that already held them.

Exit statuses are deliberately unchanged

• skills stays 2 — a missing verb is a usage error either way.
• repos stays 1 — bare repos is valid on a terminal, so this is an environment failure, not a usage error. No caller's exit-code handling moves.

Left alone on purpose

• An invalid skills verb still goes to the delegate. Its error names the word the operator typed, which is the useful part, and intercepting it would mean carrying a second copy of the verb list in bash.
• On a terminal, bare repos still opens the hub. The guard fires only when there is no interactive TTY.

Test

tests/operator-usage-message-smoke.sh, 8 steps. It checks the new text and that everything underneath still runs — a "fix" that stopped delegating would pass a message-only check:

step	asserts
2	skills exits 2, usage on stderr, stdout empty, no mq-skills.py, all three verbs named
3	same message on a real terminal (via pty) — the fix is not headless-only
4	skills audit still runs and reports
5	skills bogus still answered by the delegate, naming the typed word
6	repos exits 1, does not say "GitHub repo picker", names mqlaunch repos, lists all six headless subcommands
7	on a pty, bare repos still reaches the hub — stubbed via a fake BASE_DIR, so it is observable and nothing interactive starts
8	repos list still produces the repo table

The gate was proven able to fail: against the unfixed tree it stops at step 2 with FAIL: delegate internals reached the operator: mq-skills.py.

ROADMAP

The section read Status: Planned with every box checked and its exit gate closed — stale. It now records the measuring pass, its five findings, the two fixed (here and #169), and the one open decision: system and theme exit 1 headless while git, release, shortcuts, tools and workflows exit 0. That needs a call before anything changes.

It also records that the sweep itself made signal-brain write a file into the mqobsidian vault — *-brain commands are writes and belong with the destructive exclusions in any repeat.

Full suite green, registry validator green, markdownlint clean.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code