Fix cdp() params-dict form and new_tab() blank-tab leak

[pA1nD]

Problem

SKILL.md line 93 documents raw CDP as:

Raw CDP for anything helpers don't cover: cdp("Domain.method", params).

But the implementation is cdp(method, session_id=None, **params) — so the documented dict form puts the params dict into session_id and sends empty params. Every agent following the skill doc hits this:

cdp("Target.closeTarget", {"targetId": tid})
# RuntimeError: {'code': -32600, 'message': "Message may have string 'sessionId' property"}
# (or, depending on method: "Failed to deserialize params.targetId - BINDINGS: mandatory field missing")

A practical consequence: tab-close calls written in the documented style fail, so agents quietly leak tabs.

Fix

cdp() accepts both the documented dict form and the existing kwargs form (kwargs win on key collisions), and session_id becomes keyword-only:

def cdp(method, params=None, *, session_id=None, **kwargs):

Compatibility: every call site in src/, agent-workspace/, interaction-skills/ and agent-workspace/domain-skills/ already passes session_id by keyword (grepped; none positional), so this is non-breaking for the repo and for code following either documented style.

Related: new_tab() leaks its about:blank tab on failure

new_tab() deliberately creates about:blank first and navigates after (to avoid the createTarget/attach race). If switch_tab/goto_url then throws, the blank tab is orphaned — over many sessions these accumulate visibly. Now the blank tab is closed before the exception re-raises.

Tests

5 new unit tests in tests/unit/test_helpers.py (kwargs form, dict form, merge precedence, keyword session_id, new_tab close-on-fail). Full suite: 112 passed.

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Summary by cubic

Fixes cdp() to accept the documented params-dict form and stops new_tab() from leaking the temporary about:blank tab on failures. Aligns behavior with SKILL.md and prevents orphaned tabs.

• Bug Fixes
  • cdp() now accepts both dict and kwargs forms; kwargs win on collisions, and session_id is keyword-only. This resolves failures like Target.closeTarget when called as cdp("Domain.method", {...}). No breaking change.
  • new_tab() closes the about:blank tab if attach or navigation fails, then re-raises, preventing tab leaks.

^{Written for commit 2d5e40d. Summary will update on new commits.}

[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 2 files

_{Re-trigger cubic}

[pA1nD]

linking some related issues i found while digging: this sits on the same tab/session lifecycle seam as #379 and #352, might help triage.

one honest caveat on the new_tab guard: if goto_url fails after switch_tab already ran, we close a tab the daemon still considers current. that is exactly the dangling session state #379 describes. i figured leaking a session pointer (recovers on the next call) beats leaking a tab (sits there forever, rent free), but if #393 lands first this cleanup could route through that instead.

for what it's worth, while testing this i found four orphaned about:blank tabs in my own browser. at least they had each other.

[Kastan97]

Ollie (CTO) Review: APPROVED ✅

What this does: Two fixes: (1) cdp() now accepts both keyword args and an explicit params=dict; (2) new_tab() cleans up blank targets on attach failure.

Good to merge once CI passes.