scaffold-project.py and family.py init: the dry runs skip the target-exists and folder checks, and any gh repo view failure reads as "does not exist" #609

The scaffold's and family.py init's dry runs should ask target-exists and whether each folder can be made; only gh's not-found should mean absent; and init should ask before it makes its folder.

From the checklist triage of 2026-10-15; Brett Heap approved its recommendations at 2026-10-15T16:49:38Z. One pull request covers the lines below.

Lands after: #573.

Lines

• L2-34: neither dry run asks the target-exists checks, or whether --work-dir and --local-remote-dir can be made. Where: scaffold-project.py :1595-1614 (main), :1637-1666 (family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573 c6b32d7); scripts/family.py cmd_init :1742-1753 (family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573). Effort S; all. On main 26c1600: Measured at 26c1600 and at family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573's head: in all seven cases (four scaffold, three init), the dry run exits 0 with --dry-run: nothing was created.; the real runs give two clean refusals and five tracebacks, with no remote made, and family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573 adds only the remote question. (source)
• L2-36: any gh repo view failure reads as "does not exist", in the dry runs and the real runs. Where: scaffold-project.py :150 (main), :176 (family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573); scripts/family.py :850 (main), :870 (family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573). Effort S; all. On main 26c1600: Measured at family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573's head with a gh answering HTTP 401: Bad credentials: both dry runs exit 0 with nothing was created, the real scaffold fails at gh repo create (rc 2), and the real init leaves an empty into/Orbit; read, not measured: a transient failure on an existing root during a real run could create the spec and code legs first. (source)

Rides along (backlog; tick it here if the same change covers it)

• L2-35: a real family.py init makes <into>/<Family>/ before asking about the remote; a refusal leaves it empty. Where: scripts/family.py cmd_init :1753-1754 (family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573 c6b32d7), :1726-1727 (main). Effort S; all. On main 26c1600: Measured at family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573's head: with the holder's remote holding commits, --dry-run refuses family-remote-exists and leaves nothing, and the real run refuses the same and leaves an empty into/Orbit; family.py init --dry-run and scaffold-project.py --dry-run exit 0 without asking whether the remotes already exist #537's own first line names this folder ("the real run refuses, leaving an empty folder"), and family.py and scaffold-project.py: --dry-run asks the real run's own question about existing remotes, so family-remote-exists and scaffold-remote-exists come at the plan, and a missing gh is gh-not-found, not a traceback (#537) #573 closes family.py init --dry-run and scaffold-project.py --dry-run exit 0 without asking whether the remotes already exist #537 without fixing it (ct459a-D3). (source)

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