fix: pin UTF-8 stdout in resolvers so Windows cp1252 doesn't crash

[aranellaeth]

What

Pin UTF-8 on stdout / subprocess output in resolve_config, resolve_party, resolve_personas, and brain so emoji agent icons and em-dashes stop crashing on Windows cp1252.

Why

On Windows, Python's default stdout encoding is cp1252. These scripts emit ensure_ascii=False JSON with emoji agent icons (or read a child's UTF-8 stdout as cp1252), so party-mode, forge-idea, and brainstorming crash with UnicodeEncodeError. resolve_customization.py already guards this with write_json_stdout; these siblings were missed.

Repro (Windows, Python 3.11+): PYTHONIOENCODING=cp1252 python _bmad/scripts/resolve_config.py --project-root . --key agents → UnicodeEncodeError on \U0001f4ca (📊).

How

• resolve_config.py: add write_json_stdout() that reconfigures stdout to UTF-8 (the same helper resolve_customization.py already uses)
• resolve_party.py / resolve_personas.py: decode subprocess output as UTF-8 (errors="replace") in _run_json
• brain.py: reconfigure stdout/stderr to UTF-8 at main() entry

Testing

Existing pytest suites pass (59). Reproduced the crash with PYTHONIOENCODING=cp1252 and confirmed exit 0 with emoji preserved after the fix.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The changes make CLI and resolver output handling explicitly UTF-8-aware. Console streams are reconfigured when supported, JSON output preserves non-ASCII characters, and subprocess stdout decoding uses UTF-8 with replacement errors.

Changes

UTF-8 Output Handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Console output encoding src/core-skills/bmad-brainstorming/scripts/brain.py, src/scripts/resolve_config.py	CLI streams are configured for UTF-8 when supported, and merged JSON is emitted with non-ASCII characters preserved.
Resolver subprocess decoding src/core-skills/bmad-forge-idea/scripts/resolve_personas.py, src/core-skills/bmad-party-mode/scripts/resolve_party.py	Captured subprocess output is decoded as UTF-8 with replacement handling before existing validation and JSON parsing.og

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD#2414: Adds a similar UTF-8 stdout helper for JSON output.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly describes the UTF-8 stdout/subprocess encoding fix for the resolver scripts, especially on Windows cp1252.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description matches the change set and explains the Windows cp1252 UTF-8 handling fix across the affected scripts.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[coderabbitai]

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

src/core-skills/bmad-forge-idea/scripts/resolve_personas.py (1)

49-65: 📐 Maintainability & Code Quality | 🔵 Trivial | ⚡ Quick win

Consider extracting the duplicated _run_json helper.

_run_json is byte-for-byte identical in resolve_personas.py (lines 48-67) and resolve_party.py (lines 46-65). If these scripts share a common package or utility module, extracting this function would prevent the implementations from diverging over time. If they're intentionally standalone per-skill scripts, the duplication is acceptable.

The UTF-8 encoding change itself is correct — encoding="utf-8", errors="replace" with text=True properly decodes child process output, and the 60s timeout and failure checks are preserved.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@src/core-skills/bmad-forge-idea/scripts/resolve_personas.py` around lines 49
- 65, Extract the identical _run_json helper shared by resolve_personas.py and
resolve_party.py into their common utility or package module, then update both
scripts to import and reuse it. Preserve the existing UTF-8 decoding, timeout,
failure handling, and JSON parsing behavior; if no shared module is appropriate,
leave the standalone implementations unchanged.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Nitpick comments:
In `@src/core-skills/bmad-forge-idea/scripts/resolve_personas.py`:
- Around line 49-65: Extract the identical _run_json helper shared by
resolve_personas.py and resolve_party.py into their common utility or package
module, then update both scripts to import and reuse it. Preserve the existing
UTF-8 decoding, timeout, failure handling, and JSON parsing behavior; if no
shared module is appropriate, leave the standalone implementations unchanged.

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: a7664864-bac5-4a60-949b-9915a6acacfa

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 49069b8 and 5f9ef65.

📒 Files selected for processing (4)

• src/core-skills/bmad-brainstorming/scripts/brain.py
• src/core-skills/bmad-forge-idea/scripts/resolve_personas.py
• src/core-skills/bmad-party-mode/scripts/resolve_party.py
• src/scripts/resolve_config.py

[aranellaeth]

Thanks!

_run_json is intentionally duplicated—these are standalone, stdlib-only per-skill scripts with no shared package to import from, and the duplication predates this PR (I only applied the encoding fix to the existing copies). Extracting a shared module would be a larger packaging change, out of scope for this targeted fix.

Happy to follow up separately if a shared script utility is ever introduced.

[sanmaxdev]

Checked the UTF-8 stream changes against the existing resolver pattern. The focused suite passes with 59 tests, and a cp1252 reproduction now exits cleanly with the emoji preserved. The base branch fails with UnicodeEncodeError. The diff is focused and looks correct.