From 43a6a565ebfd97a63f8c70550f66c835c2603a33 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Affaan Mustafa <affaan@itomarkets.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:30:33 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] test: reject empty qualification nodes

---
 scripts/ito.js                       |  7 +++++--
 tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js | 12 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/ito.js b/scripts/ito.js
index f03821d23..8ba23ffb1 100755
--- a/scripts/ito.js
+++ b/scripts/ito.js
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ function requiredOptionValue(args, option) {
     throw new Error(`${option} is required exactly once for live node qualification.`);
   }
   const value = args[indexes[0] + 1];
-  if (!value || value.startsWith("--")) {
+  if (!value?.trim() || value.startsWith("--")) {
     throw new Error(`${option} requires a non-empty value for live node qualification.`);
   }
   return value;
@@ -104,7 +104,10 @@ function validateNodeQualificationArgs(args, environment) {
     );
   }
   requiredOptionValue(args, "--cluster");
-  requiredOptionValue(args, "--nodes");
+  const nodes = requiredOptionValue(args, "--nodes");
+  if (!nodes.split(",").every((node) => node.trim().length > 0)) {
+    throw new Error("--nodes must explicitly list one or more non-empty nodes.");
+  }
   const configDirectory = requiredOptionValue(args, "--config-dir");
   if (!path.isAbsolute(configDirectory)) {
     throw new Error("--config-dir must be an existing absolute directory.");
diff --git a/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js b/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
index c9a458819..7f52d469b 100644
--- a/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
+++ b/tests/scripts/ito-cli-bridge.test.js
@@ -243,6 +243,18 @@ function main() {
           env: { ITO_ENABLE_SIXTYTWO_LIVE: "1" },
           error: /--nodes/,
         },
+        {
+          label: "empty node list",
+          args: [
+            "ito", "evals",
+            "--cluster", "clu_prod_example",
+            "--live-sixtytwo",
+            "--nodes", ",",
+            "--config-dir", "__CONFIG__",
+          ],
+          env: { ITO_ENABLE_SIXTYTWO_LIVE: "1" },
+          error: /--nodes/,
+        },
         {
           label: "missing cluster",
           args: [