Pre-validate workflow names in MCP logs tool

[Copilot]

Summary: Improve error messaging for non-existent workflows in logs command ✅

Adds workflow name validation to the MCP server's logs tool to provide user-friendly error messages with suggestions when an invalid workflow name is provided, instead of generic CLI exit errors.

Changes

1. Added validateWorkflowName() function in pkg/cli/mcp_server.go

• Validates workflow names before executing the logs command
• Returns nil for empty workflow names (means "all workflows")
• Tries to resolve workflow IDs using workflow.ResolveWorkflowName()
• Checks against known workflows using getAgenticWorkflowNames()
• Provides fuzzy-matched suggestions using suggestWorkflowNames()

2. Integrated validation in logs tool handler

• Validates workflow name before building command arguments (line 765-776)
• Returns MCP error with InvalidParams code on validation failure
• Includes structured error data with workflow_name and error_type

3. Added comprehensive unit tests

• TestMCPValidateWorkflowName tests 4 scenarios:
  • Empty workflow name (valid case)
  • Non-existent workflow (error case)
  • Error message includes suggestions
  • Fuzzy match suggestions for similar workflow names

Error Message Improvement

❌ Before: Generic MCP error with exit status 1

McpError: MCP error -32603: calling "tools/call": failed to download workflow logs: exit status 1

✅ After: Structured error with actionable suggestions

McpError: MCP error -32602 (InvalidParams): workflow 'nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345' not found. 
Did you mean: test-workflow, test-dispatcher-workflow? 
Use the 'status' tool to see all available workflows 
Check for typos in the workflow name 
Use the workflow ID (e.g., 'test-claude') or GitHub Actions workflow name (e.g., 'Test Claude')

Error Data:
{
  "workflow_name": "nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345",
  "error_type": "workflow_not_found"
}

Benefits

• ✅ User-friendly error messages with actionable suggestions
• ✅ Fuzzy matching suggests similar workflow names
• ✅ Structured error data for programmatic handling
• ✅ Early validation prevents unnecessary command execution
• ✅ Consistent with existing patterns in the logs command
• ✅ Reuses existing validation logic (no code duplication)
• ✅ References MCP status tool for discovering available workflows

Testing & Validation

• ✅ All unit tests pass (4 new test cases added)
• ✅ No regressions in existing logs command tests
• ✅ Linting passes with no issues
• ✅ Code formatted correctly
• ✅ Follows repository patterns and conventions
• ✅ Security scan passes (no new issues introduced)

Files Changed

• pkg/cli/mcp_server.go (+57 lines)
• pkg/cli/mcp_server_workflow_validation_test.go (+57 lines)

Total: 114 lines added across 2 files

Next Steps

This pattern can be applied to the audit command as mentioned in the issue for consistent error messaging across all MCP tools.

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>[cli-tools-test] Improve error messaging for non-existent workflow in logs command</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Problem Description

When querying logs for a workflow that doesn't exist, the MCP server returns a generic MCP error instead of a user-friendly error message.

Command/Tool

• Tool: logs
• Command: agenticworkflows-logs with workflow_name: "nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345"

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use the agentic-workflows MCP server logs tool
2. Provide a workflow name that doesn't exist (e.g., "nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345")
3. Observe the error response

Expected Behavior

One of:

• Empty result set with summary indicating 0 runs found
• Clear error message: "Workflow 'nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345' not found. Available workflows: ..."
• Helpful suggestion to check workflow name spelling or use list command

Actual Behavior

Generic MCP error:

McpError: MCP error -32603: calling "tools/call": failed to download workflow logs: exit status 1

Environment

• Repository: github/gh-aw
• Run ID: 21958431840
• Date: 2026-02-12
• Testing Context: Daily CLI Tools Exploratory Testing

Impact

• Severity: Medium
• Frequency: Every time an invalid workflow name is provided
• Workaround: Users must manually verify workflow names using the list command first

Recommended Fix

Add validation layer in the logs command that:

1. Pre-validates workflow name against known workflows
2. Returns structured error with helpful context
3. Suggests corrections (fuzzy matching) or lists available workflows

Example improved error:

{
  "error": "workflow_not_found",
  "message": "Workflow 'nonexistent-workflow-xyz-12345' not found",
  "suggestions": ["Did you mean: test-workflow, test-dispatcher-workflow?"],
  "help": "Run 'gh aw status' to see all available workflows"
}

Additional Context

This issue was discovered during comprehensive exploratory testing of the agentic-workflows MCP server. The same pattern affects the audit command when provided with invalid run IDs (see related issue).

AI generated by Daily CLI Tools Exploratory Tester

• expires on Feb 19, 2026, 6:13 PM UTC

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

@pelikhan @copilot add a workflow name validation code in the MCP server to detect invalid name before launching the process. Reuse APIs from logs command (find out which one there is)

• Fixes [cli-tools-test] Improve error messaging for non-existent workflow in logs command #15215

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR improves error handling in the MCP server's logs tool by adding pre-validation for workflow names, providing user-friendly error messages with actionable suggestions instead of generic CLI exit errors when invalid workflow names are provided.

Changes:

• Added validateWorkflowName() function to check workflow existence before command execution
• Integrated validation into the logs tool handler with structured error responses
• Added comprehensive unit tests covering valid and invalid workflow name scenarios

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
pkg/cli/mcp_server.go	Implements workflow name validation logic and integrates it into the logs tool handler
pkg/cli/mcp_server_workflow_validation_test.go	Adds unit tests for workflow name validation covering empty names, non-existent workflows, and error message content

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[Copilot]

Consider using a debug-level log or removing this log statement. This validation is called for every logs tool invocation and will create noise in production logs.

Suggested change

mcpLog.Printf("Validating workflow name: %s", workflowName)

[Copilot]

The resolved workflow name is logged but not used. Either remove the log statement on line 180 or use the resolvedName for further validation if needed.

Suggested change

	resolvedName, err := workflow.ResolveWorkflowName(workflowName)
	if err == nil {
	mcpLog.Printf("Workflow name resolved successfully: %s -> %s", workflowName, resolvedName)
	if _, err := workflow.ResolveWorkflowName(workflowName); err == nil {
	mcpLog.Printf("Workflow name resolved successfully: %s", workflowName)