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REQ-F-046: Pager Environment Variable Suppression

Tier: Framework-Automatic | Priority: P0

Source: §10 Interactivity & TTY Requirements

Addresses: Severity: Critical / Token Spend: High / Time: Critical / Context: Low

Description

In addition to the pager suppression in REQ-F-010, the framework MUST set the following environment variables before any subprocess invocation to prevent third-party libraries from spawning interactive pagers: PAGER=cat, GIT_PAGER=cat, LESS=-F -X -R, MORE= (empty), MANPAGER=cat. These variables MUST be set in the subprocess environment unconditionally when the framework's subprocess API is used, regardless of any inherited environment. Framework-level help rendering MUST also respect these settings.

Acceptance Criteria

  • A subprocess invoked via the framework API cannot open an interactive pager even if the host PAGER env var is set to less
  • git log invoked via the framework API does not block waiting for pager input in non-TTY mode
  • The environment variable injection is applied to all levels of subprocess nesting (direct children and grandchildren of the framework process)
  • The suppression is transparent to command authors: no per-command configuration required

Schema

No dedicated schema type — this requirement governs environment variable injection without adding new wire-format fields

Wire Format

No wire-format fields — this requirement governs framework behavior only

Example

Framework-Automatic: no command author action needed. The framework injects pager-suppression variables before any command or subprocess runs.

# Framework bootstrap (transparent to command author)
os.environ["PAGER"] = "cat"
os.environ["GIT_PAGER"] = "cat"
os.environ["LESS"] = "-F -X -R"
os.environ["MORE"] = ""
os.environ["MANPAGER"] = "cat"

# git log via framework subprocess API — does not block in non-TTY mode
framework.run(["git", "log", "--oneline"])
→ output printed directly, no interactive pager spawned

# Even if host environment had PAGER=less:
$ PAGER=less tool git-summary
→ GIT_PAGER=cat overrides, no pager spawned
Requirement Tier Relationship
REQ-F-010 F Extends: this requirement adds env var injection on top of the base pager suppression
REQ-F-055 F Composes: $EDITOR / $VISUAL suppression uses the same env var injection pattern
REQ-F-050 F Composes: update notifier suppression injects additional env vars via the same mechanism
REQ-F-038 F Composes: verbosity suppression is part of the same non-TTY hardening applied at bootstrap