fix: Project deletion failing with permalink normalization (#345)

Author: groksrc

BUGFIX-project-delete.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# Bug Fix: Project Deletion Failure
+
+## Problem Description
+
+The `delete_project` MCP tool was failing with "Project 'test-verify' not found" even though the project clearly existed and showed up in `list_memory_projects`.
+
+## Root Cause
+
+The bug was in `/Users/drew/code/basic-memory/src/basic_memory/config.py` in the `ConfigManager.remove_project()` method (line 311):
+
+```python
+def remove_project(self, name: str) -> None:
+    """Remove a project from the configuration."""
+    
+    project_name, path = self.get_project(name)
+    if not project_name:
+        raise ValueError(f"Project '{name}' not found")
+    
+    config = self.load_config()
+    if project_name == config.default_project:
+        raise ValueError(f"Cannot remove the default project '{name}'")
+    
+    del config.projects[name]  # ← BUG: Using input name instead of found project_name
+    self.save_config(config)
+```
+
+**The Issue:**
+1. Line 305: `get_project(name)` does a permalink-based lookup and returns the **actual** project name from the config (e.g., "test-verify")
+2. Line 311: `del config.projects[name]` tries to delete using the **input** name parameter instead of the `project_name` that was just found
+3. Since `get_project()` uses permalink matching, it can find a project even if the input name doesn't match the exact dictionary key
+
+**Example Scenario:**
+- Config has project key: `"test-verify"`
+- User calls: `delete_project("test-verify")`
+- `get_project("test-verify")` finds it via permalink matching and returns `("test-verify", "/path")`
+- `del config.projects["test-verify"]` tries to delete using input, which should work...
+- BUT if there's any normalization mismatch between the stored key and the input, it fails
+
+## The Fix
+
+Changed line 311 to use the `project_name` returned by `get_project()`:
+
+```python
+# Use the found project_name (which may differ from input name due to permalink matching)
+del config.projects[project_name]
+```
+
+This ensures we're deleting the exact key that exists in the config dictionary, not the potentially non-normalized input name.
+
+## Testing
+
+After applying this fix, the delete operation should work correctly:
+
+```python
+# This should now succeed
+await delete_project("test-verify")
+```
+
+## Related Code
+
+The same pattern is correctly used in other methods:
+- `set_default_project()` correctly uses the found `project_name` when setting default
+- The API endpoint `remove_project()` in project_router.py correctly passes through to this method
+
+## Commit Message
+
+```
+fix: use found project_name in ConfigManager.remove_project()
+
+The remove_project() method was using the input name parameter to delete
+from config.projects instead of the project_name returned by get_project().
+This caused failures when the input name didn't exactly match the config
+dictionary key, even though get_project() successfully found the project
+via permalink matching.
+
+Now uses the actual project_name returned by get_project() to ensure we're
+deleting the correct dictionary key.
+
+Fixes: Project deletion failing with "not found" error despite project existing
+```

src/basic_memory/config.py

@@ -354,7 +354,8 @@ def remove_project(self, name: str) -> None:
         if project_name == config.default_project:  # pragma: no cover
             raise ValueError(f"Cannot remove the default project '{name}'")
 
-        del config.projects[name]
+        # Use the found project_name (which may differ from input name due to permalink matching)
+        del config.projects[project_name]
         self.save_config(config)
 
     def set_default_project(self, name: str) -> None:

tests/test_config.py

@@ -204,3 +204,67 @@ def test_config_manager_default_without_custom_config_dir(self, config_home, mon
         # Should use default location
         assert config_manager.config_dir == config_home / ".basic-memory"
         assert config_manager.config_file == config_home / ".basic-memory" / "config.json"
+
+    def test_remove_project_with_exact_name_match(self, temp_config_manager):
+        """Test remove_project when project name matches config key exactly."""
+        config_manager = temp_config_manager
+
+        # Verify project exists
+        config = config_manager.load_config()
+        assert "test-project" in config.projects
+
+        # Remove the project with exact name match
+        config_manager.remove_project("test-project")
+
+        # Verify the project was removed
+        config = config_manager.load_config()
+        assert "test-project" not in config.projects
+
+    def test_remove_project_with_permalink_lookup(self, temp_config_manager):
+        """Test remove_project when input needs permalink normalization."""
+        config_manager = temp_config_manager
+
+        # Add a project with normalized key
+        config = config_manager.load_config()
+        config.projects["special-chars-project"] = str(Path("/tmp/special"))
+        config_manager.save_config(config)
+
+        # Remove using a name that will normalize to the config key
+        config_manager.remove_project(
+            "Special Chars Project"
+        )  # This should normalize to "special-chars-project"
+
+        # Verify the project was removed using the correct config key
+        updated_config = config_manager.load_config()
+        assert "special-chars-project" not in updated_config.projects
+
+    def test_remove_project_uses_canonical_name(self, temp_config_manager):
+        """Test that remove_project uses the canonical config key, not user input."""
+        config_manager = temp_config_manager
+
+        # Add a project with a config key that differs from user input
+        config = config_manager.load_config()
+        config.projects["my-test-project"] = str(Path("/tmp/mytest"))
+        config_manager.save_config(config)
+
+        # Remove using input that will match but is different from config key
+        config_manager.remove_project("My Test Project")  # Should find "my-test-project"
+
+        # Verify that the canonical config key was removed
+        updated_config = config_manager.load_config()
+        assert "my-test-project" not in updated_config.projects
+
+    def test_remove_project_nonexistent_project(self, temp_config_manager):
+        """Test remove_project raises ValueError for nonexistent project."""
+        config_manager = temp_config_manager
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Project 'nonexistent' not found"):
+            config_manager.remove_project("nonexistent")
+
+    def test_remove_project_cannot_remove_default(self, temp_config_manager):
+        """Test remove_project raises ValueError when trying to remove default project."""
+        config_manager = temp_config_manager
+
+        # Try to remove the default project
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Cannot remove the default project"):
+            config_manager.remove_project("main")