From 6616a4726cd2ecac8eaa84c00641c624ab3ebcdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: beads/crew/collins <steve.yegge@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 17:28:47 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] feat(mail): support positional message arg in reply command

Allow `gt mail reply <id> "message"` in addition to `-m` flag.
This is a desire-path fix - agents naturally try positional syntax.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 internal/cmd/mail.go        | 10 ++++++----
 internal/cmd/mail_thread.go | 13 ++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/internal/cmd/mail.go b/internal/cmd/mail.go
index 623f137c..13c5f22a 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/mail.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/mail.go
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ Examples:
 }
 
 var mailReplyCmd = &cobra.Command{
-	Use:   "reply <message-id>",
+	Use:   "reply <message-id> [message]",
 	Short: "Reply to a message",
 	Long: `Reply to a specific message.
 
@@ -277,10 +277,13 @@ This is a convenience command that automatically:
 - Prefixes the subject with "Re: " (if not already present)
 - Sends to the original sender
 
+The message body can be provided as a positional argument or via -m flag.
+
 Examples:
+  gt mail reply msg-abc123 "Thanks, working on it now"
   gt mail reply msg-abc123 -m "Thanks, working on it now"
   gt mail reply msg-abc123 -s "Custom subject" -m "Reply body"`,
-	Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
+	Args: cobra.RangeArgs(1, 2),
 	RunE: runMailReply,
 }
 
@@ -457,8 +460,7 @@ func init() {
 
 	// Reply flags
 	mailReplyCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&mailReplySubject, "subject", "s", "", "Override reply subject (default: Re: <original>)")
-	mailReplyCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&mailReplyMessage, "message", "m", "", "Reply message body (required)")
-	_ = mailReplyCmd.MarkFlagRequired("message")
+	mailReplyCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&mailReplyMessage, "message", "m", "", "Reply message body")
 
 	// Search flags
 	mailSearchCmd.Flags().StringVar(&mailSearchFrom, "from", "", "Filter by sender address")
diff --git a/internal/cmd/mail_thread.go b/internal/cmd/mail_thread.go
index fbae845c..181a8b4f 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/mail_thread.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/mail_thread.go
@@ -82,6 +82,17 @@ func runMailThread(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 func runMailReply(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	msgID := args[0]
 
+	// Get message body from positional arg or flag (positional takes precedence)
+	messageBody := mailReplyMessage
+	if len(args) > 1 {
+		messageBody = args[1]
+	}
+
+	// Validate message is provided
+	if messageBody == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("message body required: provide as second argument or use -m flag")
+	}
+
 	// All mail uses town beads (two-level architecture)
 	workDir, err := findMailWorkDir()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -118,7 +129,7 @@ func runMailReply(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		From:     from,
 		To:       original.From, // Reply to sender
 		Subject:  subject,
-		Body:     mailReplyMessage,
+		Body:     messageBody,
 		Type:     mail.TypeReply,
 		Priority: mail.PriorityNormal,
 		ReplyTo:  msgID,