Cannot set a default project when none is currently set: v2 set-default endpoint 404s on the bootstrap/recovery case

[groksrc]

Summary

bm project default <name> fails with No default project is currently set — but setting the default is exactly the command you reach for when none is set. The guard makes a recoverable state unrecoverable from the CLI.

Repro

Fresh config dir (e.g. isolated BASIC_MEMORY_CONFIG_DIR):

bm project add qa /tmp/bm-qa/notes --local   # only project; no default row in DB
bm project default qa
# Error setting default project: No default project is currently set

Root cause

src/basic_memory/api/v2/routers/project_router.py:563-567 (set_default_project_by_id): the handler fetches the old default purely to echo it as old_project in the response, and raises 404 when there is none. The guard is marked # pragma: no cover — the no-current-default path was never tested. ProjectStatusResponse.old_project is already Optional (schemas/project_info.py:238), so the 404 serves no schema requirement.

Fix

Drop the guard; populate old_project only when a previous default exists. Add a regression test for setting a default when none is set.

Context

Found during manual QA (same session as #972). The state that exposes this comes from the config/DB reconciliation gap in #974 — the broken setter is what blocks CLI self-recovery from that state.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[claude]

Claude finished @groksrc's task in 4m 52s —— View job

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Analysis & Fix

• Analyze issue and classify
• Read router and schema files to understand the bug
• Fix the 404 guard in set_default_project_by_id
• Add regression test for setting default when none is set
• Commit changes (push blocked by GitHub Actions permissions)

Classification: Bug | High Priority | API | Simple fix

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Root cause

set_default_project_by_id in src/basic_memory/api/v2/routers/project_router.py (lines 562–567) fetched the old default project in order to echo it in the response, but raised 404 immediately when get_default_project() returned None. Since ProjectStatusResponse.old_project is already Optional[ProjectItem], the guard served no schema requirement — it just made the unset-default state unrecoverable from the CLI.

Fix applied (commit ab6b01c)

src/basic_memory/api/v2/routers/project_router.py — Removed the 404 guard; old_project is now populated only when a previous default existed (returns None otherwise):

# Before
default_project = await project_repository.get_default_project()
if not default_project:
    raise HTTPException(  # pragma: no cover
        status_code=404, detail="No default project is currently set"
    )
...
old_project=ProjectItem(...),   # unconditional

# After
# Get the old default project; may be None on first-time setup or after config/DB drift
default_project = await project_repository.get_default_project()
...
old_project=ProjectItem(...) if default_project else None,

tests/api/v2/test_project_router.py — Added test_set_default_project_when_no_default_exists which clears is_default on the test project, calls PUT /v2/projects/{id}/default, and asserts 200 with old_project=None.

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Note: The commit is ready on branch claude/issue-975-20260611-1842 but the automated push was blocked by GitHub Actions permissions on this repository. A maintainer can push or cherry-pick the commit.