[1932819331hy-debug]

Summary

 --rpc --json
- treat --json as the RPC URL, retry, and exit 3
+ report the missing --rpc value and exit 2

Reject a following --option token where an option requires a value. This keeps a missing value in the README's bad-argument category instead of reporting an unreachable endpoint. Single-dash numeric values still reach numeric validation; normal --help and explicit RPC URLs retain their behavior.

Compatibility note: normal --help still exits 0. When help is combined with a newly recognized missing value, such as --help ... --rpc --json, argument parsing now reports exit 2 before displaying help; this combination previously exited 0.

The change is one parser condition plus six CLI subprocess tests. It does not change the RPC client, schedule calculations, or Action script.

Evidence

• Before: the six new tests on main 13184ff111532c172f37d54d59f00e7eea6b9a23 have three passes and three assertion failures. Missing --rpc values before --json, --help, and --unknown each return 3 instead of 2.
  After: all six pass; npm test passes 29/29, including the 23 existing tests.
• Independent AI-assisted review reproduced the same RED result and reran all 29 native tests successfully. Its separate parameter and complete Action-shell comparison checked 54 expected outcomes across main and candidate; these are not 54 additional native tests. No blocking finding remained in this scoped local review.
• Two deliberately broken parser variants are detected: recognizing only --json, and incorrectly rejecting single-dash numeric values.
• A separate local harness runs the real CLI and the unchanged composite Action's shell block against synthetic HTTP on 127.0.0.1. Main and candidate each pass 11 checks covering JSON/text output, exit codes 0/1/2/3, Action outputs and summary, and fail-on-drift=false preserving argument/endpoint failures. Corresponding output files are unchanged.

All execution used Node 24.22.1. The Action checks supply its environment directly; they do not run GitHub expression interpolation or a hosted runner. Node 18/20/22, other operating systems, npx installation, real RPC providers, and hosted CI remain unverified. No dependencies were added; build, lint, and typecheck scripts are not configured.

AI assistance was used for implementation, testing, and independent review. This is a source-backed CLI contract repair, not completion of a separate maintainer issue.

Merge Danger

Door: Two-way. A localized parser correction with no migration.

Blast Radius: CLI.

A missing option value followed by another long option now exits 2 before attempting RPC access, including when --help is also present. Valid URLs and numeric values are unchanged.