almost

tasks/ralph-loop-fixes/01-fix-loadconfig-graceful-default.md

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+# 01. Fix `loadConfig` to return defaults gracefully when `.ralph/config.yaml` is missing
+
+meta:
+  id: ralph-loop-fixes-01
+  feature: ralph-loop-fixes
+  priority: P1
+  depends_on: []
+  tags: [implementation, utils]
+
+objective:
+- `loadConfig()` should return `DEFAULT_CONFIG` silently when `.ralph/config.yaml` does not exist, without logging a warning to stderr
+
+deliverables:
+- Modified `src/utils.ts` — `loadConfig()` function
+
+steps:
+- Open `src/utils.ts` and locate `loadConfig()`
+- Add `fs.existsSync()` check before `fs.readFileSync()`
+- If config file does not exist, return a deep copy of `DEFAULT_CONFIG` without any console output
+- If config file exists but is malformed, fall back to defaults silently
+- Remove or suppress the `console.warn()` call
+
+tests:
+- Manual: Run `/ralph resume` in a project directory with no `.ralph/` directory — should not print warning
+- Manual: Run `/ralph run` in a project with `.ralph/progress.json` but no `config.yaml` — should proceed with defaults
+
+acceptance_criteria:
+- No console warning when config.yaml is missing
+- `loadConfig()` returns a valid `RalphConfig` object in all cases
+- Existing behavior with valid config.yaml is unchanged
+
+validation:
+- Check `src/utils.ts` loadConfig function returns silently on missing file
+- Verify no `console.warn` or `console.error` in the missing-config path
+
+notes:
+- Current code at line ~145 in utils.ts: `fs.readFileSync(configPath, "utf-8")` throws ENOENT
+- The try-catch does catch it but still logs the warning — the warning is noisy for normal usage where config is optional