workiq in GitHub Codespaces not respecting BROWSER environment variable
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env:linux
- Dominant language
- PowerShell
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Description
We use GitHub Codespaces for developer environments.
I wanted to try using workiq in the CLI inside of the codespace and ended up getting an error.
> npx -y @microsoft/workiq accept-eula
EULA has been accepted
> npx -y @microsoft/workiq ask -q 'What meetings do I have for today?'
Unexpected error during token acquisition: Unable to open a web page using xdg-open, gnome-open, kfmclient or wslview tools. See inner exception for details. Possible causes for this error are: tools are not installed or they cannot open a URL. Make sure you can open a web page by invoking from a terminal: xdg-open https://www.bing.com
Error: Unexpected error: Unable to open a web page using xdg-open, gnome-open, kfmclient or wslview tools. See inner exception for details. Possible causes for this error are: tools are not installed or they cannot open a URL. Make sure you can open a web page by invoking from a terminal: xdg-open https://www.bing.com
> echo $BROWSER
/vscode/bin/linux-x64/591199df409fbf59b4b52d5ad4ee0470152a9b31/bin/helpers/browser.sh
Most tools respect the BROWSER environment variable to launch auth flows (or just webpages in general) for remote/containerized environments.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the CLI token-acquisition path exercised by the workiq ask command and inspect how browser launching behaves in GitHub Codespaces. Reproduce the failure with the shown $BROWSER value, then verify that the authentication flow uses the configured browser command rather than only xdg-open and related tools.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- powershell
- Domain
- authentication, cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100