[vicmcorrea]

Problem and fix

A fresh, parseable update cache with a non-string ver, or a newer version with a non-string notice, can throw after the command finishes. A program may print its correct result but exit 1; an explicit exit 7 also becomes 1.

Catch rejection from the optional daily check at its sole CLI callsite. This preserves the documented rule that the check never fails the command, without adding cache-validation or repair machinery.

Blast radius

Two files: one production line in bend2/main.ts, and eight regression lines in the existing gates/ping.ts daily-check cases. The tests reuse its private cache and helpers; existing cleanup resets the cache afterward.

Valid notices, refresh behavior, telemetry opt-out and command failures retain their behavior. No public API or cache-format change.

Regression evidence

The two fresh-cache cases cover null version and null notice. Both exact assertions fail against the original compiled CLI, which prints help then exits 1 with a TypeError, and pass against the corrected binary with identical help, exit 0 and empty stderr.

Source and compiled CLI controls also cover valid current/newer/stale-offline caches. Independent source checks verify preserved checker failures, exit 7, notice sanitation/truncation and no HTTP requests for fresh caches.

Checks

• Source and freshly compiled CLI probes, including the exact added regression assertions, pass their baseline/branch expectations.
• git diff --check passes.
• Scoped TypeScript checking reports seven byte-identical existing diagnostics in bend.ts and safe.ts; no new diagnostics. This is not a clean typecheck.
• Repository gate: 53/54. Its sole failure is unchanged comp.ts at 64,092/64,000 ttok, also present on main's #1600 check. This PR leaves comp.ts untouched.

Validation limits

Local checks used macOS arm64 and Bun 1.3.11. Full ping skips because the sibling site repository is unavailable; replaying its added assertions does not validate the full installer/release flow. Linux/WSL, Windows and cluster checks were not run. The inherited compiler-cap failure prevents a green repository gate.

Malformed cache data remains on disk until normal refresh; this change preserves the command result rather than repairing that data.