From a3c778210b652221489c49f61a99579749152896 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jp <jp@jphein.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:00:59 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(searcher): guard against None metadata in CLI print path
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`col.query(...)` can return `None` entries in the inner ``metadatas`` list
for drawers whose metadata was never set (older palaces, rows written
outside the normal mining path). The CLI `search()` function would render
earlier results successfully and then crash mid-loop with:

    AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'get'

at ``searcher.py:286`` — ``meta.get("source_file", "?")``. The user sees
partial output followed by a traceback, with no indication of which
drawers rendered OK and which were skipped.

Guard with ``meta = meta or {}`` inside the loop so entries with missing
metadata fall back to the existing ``"?"`` defaults instead of crashing,
matching the hit dict assembly in ``search_memories()`` which already
uses ``meta.get("wing", "unknown")`` etc. against the same data.

Adds a regression test that mocks a ChromaDB result with a ``None``
metadata entry in the middle of the inner list and asserts both result
blocks render to stdout.
---
 mempalace/searcher.py  |  1 +
 tests/test_searcher.py | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mempalace/searcher.py b/mempalace/searcher.py
index db809d9..ef951e2 100644
--- a/mempalace/searcher.py
+++ b/mempalace/searcher.py
@@ -283,6 +283,7 @@ def search(query: str, palace_path: str, wing: str = None, room: str = None, n_r
 
     for i, (doc, meta, dist) in enumerate(zip(docs, metas, dists), 1):
         similarity = round(max(0.0, 1 - dist), 3)
+        meta = meta or {}
         source = Path(meta.get("source_file", "?")).name
         wing_name = meta.get("wing", "?")
         room_name = meta.get("room", "?")
diff --git a/tests/test_searcher.py b/tests/test_searcher.py
index 11e788d..127e95f 100644
--- a/tests/test_searcher.py
+++ b/tests/test_searcher.py
@@ -141,3 +141,22 @@ class TestSearchCLI:
         captured = capsys.readouterr()
         # Should have output with at least one result block
         assert "[1]" in captured.out
+
+    def test_search_handles_none_metadata_without_crash(self, palace_path, capsys):
+        """ChromaDB can return `None` entries in the metadatas list when a
+        drawer has no metadata. The CLI print path must not crash on them
+        mid-render — it used to raise `AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has
+        no attribute 'get'` after printing earlier results."""
+        mock_col = MagicMock()
+        mock_col.query.return_value = {
+            "documents": [["first doc", "second doc"]],
+            "metadatas": [[{"source_file": "a.md", "wing": "w", "room": "r"}, None]],
+            "distances": [[0.1, 0.2]],
+        }
+        with patch("mempalace.searcher.get_collection", return_value=mock_col):
+            search("anything", "/fake/path")
+        captured = capsys.readouterr()
+        assert "[1]" in captured.out
+        assert "[2]" in captured.out
+        # Second result renders with fallback '?' values instead of crashing
+        assert "second doc" in captured.out