fix(process-table): pin macOS ps to en_US.UTF-8 so lstart and argv parse under any locale (#33898)

macOS ps formats lstart with the user's locale (%c) and vis-encodes
non-ASCII argv when no UTF-8 locale is set. Under de_DE/en_NZ/ja_JP the
process-table parsers dropped tty/startTime and folded them into command,
breaking agent recognition, pane fingerprints, agent-session start times
and daemon identity. Run those ps readers with LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 on
macOS; other platforms keep the inherited env.

Fixes #27004

Co-authored-by: outof-place <contact@outofplace.space>

src/main/daemon/daemon-process-identity-query.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { execFile, execFileSync } from 'node:child_process'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from '../../shared/ps-locale-environment'
 
 const PS_IDENTITY_TIMEOUT_MS = 2_000
 
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ export function getPsProcessIdentity(
     const output = execFileSync('ps', ['-p', String(pid), '-o', 'lstart=', '-o', 'command='], {
       encoding: 'utf8',
       timeout: 2_000,
-      ...(options?.utc ? { env: { ...process.env, TZ: 'UTC', LC_ALL: 'C' } } : {})
+      env: options?.utc ? { ...process.env, TZ: 'UTC', LC_ALL: 'C' } : psLocaleEnvironment()
     })
     return parsePsProcessIdentity(output, options?.utc)
   } catch {
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ export async function getPsProcessIdentityAsync(pid: number): Promise<ProcessIde
         ['-p', String(pid), '-o', 'lstart=', '-o', 'command='],
         {
           encoding: 'utf8',
+          env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
           timeout: PS_IDENTITY_TIMEOUT_MS
         },
         (error, output) => {

src/main/daemon/daemon-process-inspection.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { execFile } from 'node:child_process'
 import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { promisify } from 'node:util'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from '../../shared/ps-locale-environment'
 import { parseLinuxBootTimeSeconds, parseLinuxProcStartTicks } from './daemon-process-start-time'
 import type {
   LinuxStatEvidence,
@@ -203,6 +204,7 @@ async function runInspectionCommand(
 ): Promise<string> {
   const { stdout } = await execFileAsync(file, args, {
     encoding: 'utf8',
+    env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
     timeout: timeoutMs,
     windowsHide: true
   })

src/main/runtime/agent-session/ownership/agent-session-process-identity-probe.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import type {
 } from '../../../../shared/agent-session-lease-adjudication'
 import type { AgentSessionProcessIdentity } from '../../../../shared/agent-session-record'
 import { runProcess } from '@orca/process-host'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from '../../../../shared/ps-locale-environment'
 import {
   isWindowsProcessStartTimeAvailable,
   readWindowsProcessIdentityTableFresh
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ async function readDarwinProcessStartTimeMs(pid: number): Promise<number | null>
     const result = await runProcess({
       program: 'ps',
       args: ['-o', 'lstart=', '-p', String(pid)],
+      env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
       timeoutMs: PROCESS_START_TIME_TIMEOUT_MS
     })
     if (result.timedOut || result.code !== 0) {
@@ -84,6 +86,7 @@ async function readDarwinProcessStartTimesMs(
     const result = await runProcess({
       program: 'ps',
       args: ['-o', 'pid=,lstart=', '-p', pids.join(',')],
+      env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
       timeoutMs: PROCESS_START_TIME_TIMEOUT_MS
     })
     if (result.timedOut || result.code !== 0) {

src/main/runtime/terminal-foreground-group.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import { recognizeAgentProcessFromCommandLine } from '../../shared/agent-process-recognition'
 import { runProcess } from '@orca/process-host'
 import { parseShellForegroundRows, type ProcessTableRow } from '../../shared/process-table-snapshot'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from '../../shared/ps-locale-environment'
 import { isShellProcess } from '../../shared/shell-process-detection'
 import type { TuiAgent } from '../../shared/tui-agent'
 
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ async function ps(args: readonly string[]): Promise<string | null> {
     const result = await runProcess({
       program: 'ps',
       args,
+      env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
       timeoutMs: PS_TIMEOUT_MS,
       maxOutputBytes: PS_MAX_OUTPUT_BYTES
     })

src/shared/cheap-process-table-snapshot-reader.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   createProcessTableSnapshotReader,
   withEvidenceBudget
 } from './process-table-snapshot-reader'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from './ps-locale-environment'
 
 /** Keep cheap captures separate: without tty=/command= they parse differently and cannot serve strict evidence readers. Share coalescing/TTL policy. */
 const cheapProcessTableReader = createProcessTableSnapshotReader<CheapProcessTableRow[]>({
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ const cheapProcessTableReader = createProcessTableSnapshotReader<CheapProcessTab
     const result = await runProcess({
       program: 'ps',
       args: CHEAP_PS_ARGS,
+      env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
       timeoutMs: PS_TIMEOUT_MS,
       maxOutputBytes: PS_MAX_BUFFER_BYTES
     })

src/shared/process-table-snapshot-locale.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'
+import { once } from 'node:events'
+import { afterEach, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import {
+  getCheapProcessTableSnapshot,
+  resetCheapProcessTableSnapshotForTests
+} from './cheap-process-table-snapshot-reader'
+import {
+  getStrictProcessTableSnapshot,
+  resetProcessTableSnapshotForTests
+} from './process-table-snapshot-reader'
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.unstubAllEnvs()
+  resetProcessTableSnapshotForTests()
+  resetCheapProcessTableSnapshotForTests()
+})
+
+it.runIf(process.platform === 'darwin').each(['de_DE.UTF-8', 'C'])(
+  'reads real macOS ps rows under LC_ALL=%s',
+  async (locale) => {
+    vi.stubEnv('LC_ALL', locale)
+    const child = spawn(process.execPath, ['-e', 'setInterval(() => {}, 1000)', 'café-ü'])
+    try {
+      await once(child, 'spawn')
+      const strict = (await getStrictProcessTableSnapshot()).find((row) => row.pid === child.pid)
+      const cheap = (await getCheapProcessTableSnapshot()).find((row) => row.pid === child.pid)
+
+      expect(strict?.command).toContain('café-ü')
+      expect(Number.isFinite(Date.parse(strict?.startTime ?? ''))).toBe(true)
+      expect(cheap?.startTime?.replace(/\s+/g, ' ')).toBe(strict?.startTime?.replace(/\s+/g, ' '))
+    } finally {
+      child.kill()
+    }
+  }
+)

src/shared/process-table-snapshot-reader.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { execFile as execFileCb } from 'node:child_process'
 import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { promisify } from 'node:util'
+import { psLocaleEnvironment } from './ps-locale-environment'
 import {
   captureDarwinProcessTable,
   resetDarwinProcessTableCaptureForTests
@@ -238,13 +239,7 @@ async function readLinuxProcessStartTimes(
       }
     })
   )
-  const result = new Map<number, string>()
-  for (const entry of starts) {
-    if (entry) {
-      result.set(entry[0], entry[1])
-    }
-  }
-  return result
+  return new Map(starts.filter((entry) => entry !== null))
 }
 
 async function captureProcessTable(args: readonly string[], timeout = PS_TIMEOUT_MS) {
@@ -252,6 +247,7 @@ async function captureProcessTable(args: readonly string[], timeout = PS_TIMEOUT
   try {
     ;({ stdout } = await execFile('ps', [...args], {
       encoding: 'utf-8',
+      env: psLocaleEnvironment(),
       timeout,
       maxBuffer: PS_MAX_BUFFER_BYTES
     }))

src/shared/ps-locale-environment.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+/** macOS ps localizes lstart (%c) and vis-encodes non-ASCII argv; en_US.UTF-8 yields the parsed shape. */
+export function psLocaleEnvironment(): NodeJS.ProcessEnv | undefined {
+  return process.platform === 'darwin' ? { ...process.env, LC_ALL: 'en_US.UTF-8' } : undefined
+}