README.md

@@ -626,6 +626,13 @@ exits 1, or 3 when the server no longer accepts the saved session (see "Session
 handling"). `--cache-dir` overrides where the cache lives; without it each
 account gets its own directory under the per-user cache path.
 
+An ID given to `files --collection`, `get`, `get-thumb` or
+`helper fix-missing-thumbnails --file` is written in decimal digits, no larger
+than 9007199254740991. Anything else, such as `0x10`, `1e3` or `-1`, is refused
+before any request with one line, `Invalid file ID: <arg>` or
+`Invalid collection ID: <arg>`, and exit status 1. One bad `--file` ID refuses
+the whole command, so nothing is fixed.
+
 `get` and `get-thumb` resolve the file by ID directly, so `--collection` is
 accepted for backward compatibility but ignored. For a live photo, `get` writes
 its image and its video, each named after the title with its own extension, as

TODO.md

@@ -25,6 +25,15 @@ declares one.
 
 # Completed Steps
 
+- 2026-10-14: `files --collection`, `get`, `get-thumb` and
+  `helper fix-missing-thumbnails --file` take an ID only when it is written in
+  decimal digits and is a safe integer (issue 185). Before, `Number()` read
+  `0x10` as 16, `1e3` as 1000 and an empty string as 0, and `--file` dropped an
+  ID it could not read without a word. Anything else now prints
+  `Invalid file ID: <arg>` or `Invalid collection ID: <arg>` and exits 1 before
+  any request; one bad `--file` ID fails the whole command. `parseID` in
+  `src/cli-commands.ts` does the check for all four.
+
 - 2026-10-06: The README says how to run `quak backup` from cron (issue 170):
   log in once as the job's user, a crontab with a backup every night and
   `--verify` on Sundays appending to a log file, and the `HOME` and

src/cli-commands.ts

@@ -97,6 +97,20 @@ const requireSession = (ctx: CliContext): Client | undefined => {
     return client;
 };
 
+// `text` as an ID, or undefined after telling the user it is not one. An ID is
+// written in decimal digits and is a safe integer; `Number()` alone would read
+// `0x10` as 16, `1e3` as 1000 and "" as 0.
+const parseID = (
+    ctx: CliContext,
+    kind: "file" | "collection",
+    text: string,
+): number | undefined => {
+    const id = Number(text);
+    if (/^[0-9]+$/.test(text) && Number.isSafeInteger(id)) return id;
+    ctx.stderr.write(`Invalid ${kind} ID: ${text}\n`);
+    return undefined;
+};
+
 // A library client that omits `fetchMLData`, so the point commands below do not
 // kick the library's background ML backfill: they read metadata, or fetch one
 // file's content, and exit. `backup` and `backup-metadata` handle ML on their
@@ -247,11 +261,8 @@ export const filesCommand = async (
     await init();
     const client = requireSession(ctx);
     if (!client) return 3;
-    const collectionID = Number(opts.collection);
+    const collectionID = parseID(ctx, "collection", opts.collection);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(collectionID)) {
+    if (collectionID === undefined) return 1;
-        ctx.stderr.write("Invalid collection ID\n");
-        return 1;
-    }
 
     const lib = await openReadLibrary(ctx, client);
     try {
@@ -289,11 +300,8 @@ export const getCommand = async (
     await init();
     const client = requireSession(ctx);
     if (!client) return 3;
-    const fileID = Number(fileIDStr);
+    const fileID = parseID(ctx, "file", fileIDStr);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(fileID)) {
+    if (fileID === undefined) return 1;
-        ctx.stderr.write("Invalid file ID\n");
-        return 1;
-    }
 
     const lib = await openReadLibrary(ctx, client);
     try {
@@ -347,11 +355,8 @@ export const getThumbCommand = async (
     await init();
     const client = requireSession(ctx);
     if (!client) return 3;
-    const fileID = Number(fileIDStr);
+    const fileID = parseID(ctx, "file", fileIDStr);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(fileID)) {
+    if (fileID === undefined) return 1;
-        ctx.stderr.write("Invalid file ID\n");
-        return 1;
-    }
 
     const lib = await openReadLibrary(ctx, client);
     try {
@@ -516,15 +521,19 @@ export const fixMissingThumbnailsCommand = async (
     await init();
     const client = requireSession(ctx);
     if (!client) return 3;
+    // One bad --file ID fails the whole command, before anything is fetched.
+    let fileIDs: number[] = [];
+    for (const text of opts.file ?? []) {
+        const fileID = parseID(ctx, "file", text);
+        if (fileID === undefined) return 1;
+        fileIDs.push(fileID);
+    }
     const lib = await openReadLibrary(ctx, client);
     try {
         // Refresh first so files added since the cache was written are found;
         // a failed refresh throws.
         await lib.fresh();
-        let fileIDs: number[];
+        if (fileIDs.length === 0) {
-        if (opts.file && opts.file.length > 0) {
-            fileIDs = opts.file.map(Number).filter(Number.isFinite);
-        } else {
             ctx.stderr.write("Scanning for missing thumbnails...\n");
             const missing = await listMissingThumbnails(lib, client, (msg) => {
                 if (!opts.json) ctx.stderr.write(msg + "\n");

test/cli/commands.test.ts

@@ -511,11 +511,6 @@ describe("files", () => {
         expect(await filesCommand(context(), { collection: "9" })).toBe(1);
         expect(stderr.text).toBe("Collection 9 not found\n");
     });
-
-    it("exits 1 for a collection ID that is not a number", async () => {
-        expect(await filesCommand(context(), { collection: "abc" })).toBe(1);
-        expect(stderr.text).toBe("Invalid collection ID\n");
-    });
 });
 
 describe("get and get-thumb", () => {
@@ -546,12 +541,6 @@ describe("get and get-thumb", () => {
         expect(stderr.text).toBe("File 999 not found\n");
         expect(existsSync(out)).toBe(false);
     });
-
-    it("both exit 1 for a file ID that is not a number", async () => {
-        expect(await getCommand(context(), "abc", {})).toBe(1);
-        expect(await getThumbCommand(context(), "abc", {})).toBe(1);
-        expect(stderr.text).toBe("Invalid file ID\nInvalid file ID\n");
-    });
 });
 
 // A live photo, which Ente stores as one ZIP, is written as its image and its
@@ -1035,3 +1024,130 @@ describe("backup-metadata and the thumbnail helpers refresh first", () => {
         expect(stdout.text).toBe("");
     });
 });
+
+// `files --collection`, `get`, `get-thumb` and `helper fix-missing-thumbnails
+// --file` take an ID only when it is written in decimal digits and is a safe
+// integer. `Number()` alone reads `0x10` as 16, `1e3` as 1000 and an empty
+// string as 0, so the command would act on a file the user never named.
+// Anything else is refused with one line naming it, and exit 1, before any
+// request.
+//
+// These run on a real client, read back from a saved session, over a fake Ente
+// server holding an empty account, which records each request it receives. With
+// a good ID the command goes on to ask the server, and finds nothing there.
+describe("an ID given on the command line", () => {
+    const NOT_IDS = [
+        "0x10",
+        "1e3",
+        "1.5",
+        "-1",
+        "",
+        "abc",
+        // One past Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER: from here on a number cannot
+        // hold every integer, so two IDs could read as one.
+        "9007199254740992",
+    ];
+
+    const requests: Request[] = [];
+
+    const emptyAccount = (): CliContext => {
+        const ctx = context();
+        const key = toBase64(new Uint8Array(32));
+        saveSession(ctx.sessionDir, {
+            email: "cli@example.com",
+            userID: USER_ID,
+            token: "token",
+            masterKey: key,
+            secretKey: key,
+            publicKey: key,
+        });
+        return {
+            ...ctx,
+            loadSession: (path) =>
+                loadSession(path, {
+                    fetch: async (url, init) => {
+                        requests.push(new Request(url, init));
+                        return new Response(
+                            JSON.stringify({ collections: [] }),
+                            { headers: { "content-type": "application/json" } },
+                        );
+                    },
+                }),
+        };
+    };
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+        requests.length = 0;
+    });
+
+    it("files looks up a decimal collection ID", async () => {
+        const ctx = emptyAccount();
+        expect(await filesCommand(ctx, { collection: "1" })).toBe(1);
+        expect(stderr.text).toBe("Collection 1 not found\n");
+        expect(requests).not.toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    it.each(NOT_IDS)(
+        "files refuses --collection %j before any request",
+        async (arg) => {
+            const ctx = emptyAccount();
+            expect(await filesCommand(ctx, { collection: arg })).toBe(1);
+            expect(stderr.text).toBe(`Invalid collection ID: ${arg}\n`);
+            expect(stdout.text).toBe("");
+            expect(requests).toHaveLength(0);
+        },
+    );
+
+    it("get looks up a decimal file ID", async () => {
+        expect(await getCommand(emptyAccount(), "100", {})).toBe(1);
+        expect(stderr.text).toBe("File 100 not found\n");
+        expect(requests).not.toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    it.each(NOT_IDS)("get refuses %j before any request", async (arg) => {
+        expect(await getCommand(emptyAccount(), arg, {})).toBe(1);
+        expect(stderr.text).toBe(`Invalid file ID: ${arg}\n`);
+        expect(stdout.text).toBe("");
+        expect(requests).toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    it("get-thumb looks up a decimal file ID", async () => {
+        expect(await getThumbCommand(emptyAccount(), "100", {})).toBe(1);
+        expect(stderr.text).toBe("File 100 not found\n");
+        expect(requests).not.toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    it.each(NOT_IDS)("get-thumb refuses %j before any request", async (arg) => {
+        expect(await getThumbCommand(emptyAccount(), arg, {})).toBe(1);
+        expect(stderr.text).toBe(`Invalid file ID: ${arg}\n`);
+        expect(stdout.text).toBe("");
+        expect(requests).toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    // The fixer reports each file it was given; on this account neither is
+    // found, which is a failure, so it exits 1.
+    it("fix-missing-thumbnails looks up each decimal --file ID", async () => {
+        const ctx = emptyAccount();
+        const opts = { file: ["100", "200"], json: true };
+        expect(await fixMissingThumbnailsCommand(ctx, opts)).toBe(1);
+        expect(JSON.parse(stdout.text)).toMatchObject([
+            { fileID: 100, reason: "file not found in any collection" },
+            { fileID: 200, reason: "file not found in any collection" },
+        ]);
+        expect(requests).not.toHaveLength(0);
+    });
+
+    // One bad ID fails the whole command, so the good one before it is not
+    // fixed either.
+    it.each(NOT_IDS)(
+        "fix-missing-thumbnails refuses --file 100 %j before any request",
+        async (arg) => {
+            const ctx = emptyAccount();
+            const opts = { file: ["100", arg] };
+            expect(await fixMissingThumbnailsCommand(ctx, opts)).toBe(1);
+            expect(stderr.text).toBe(`Invalid file ID: ${arg}\n`);
+            expect(stdout.text).toBe("");
+            expect(requests).toHaveLength(0);
+        },
+    );
+});