Report [project] baml.toml table as [package] typo

[ATX24]

The error

A baml.toml copied with a Python-style [project] table is not a valid BAML manifest:

[project]
name = "test"
version = "0.1.0"

Before this change, running:

baml describe String

failed with a generic manifest error like:

error: .../baml.toml: missing `[package]` table.

That message did not mention that [project] was present, so the user/agent had no direct hint that the intended BAML table is [package].

Root cause

baml_language/crates/baml_cli/src/project_load.rs::validate_baml_toml only looked up table.get("package") and emitted the generic missing-table diagnostic when it was absent. It did not inspect the parsed TOML for a top-level [project] table before producing that fallback.

The read-only/introspection path, load_project_or_default, intentionally skips most manifest validation for commands like baml describe, so it also needed a narrow check for this known typo to avoid silently loading a project with a broken manifest header.

Separately, baml_language/crates/baml_cli/src/agent_command.rs::normalize_direct_skill_references normalized skill names from the external BAML skill archive but did not correct a bad baml.toml template if one contains [project].

The fix

• Added a shared [project]-without-[package] diagnostic helper in project_load.rs:

  `[project]` is not a recognized table in baml.toml; did you mean `[package]`?
  

• Used that helper in strict manifest validation so run/test/generate/pack get the targeted error instead of the generic missing [package] message.

• Added the same narrow typo check to load_project_or_default, preserving general describe leniency while still surfacing this actionable manifest mistake.

• Added context-aware skill content normalization so an installed BAML skill template that mentions baml.toml rewrites [project] to [package] without changing unrelated TOML snippets like pyproject.toml.

• Added unit and e2e coverage for the strict loader, the introspection loader, the skill normalization, and the CLI describe reproduction.

Verification

Focused regressions:

cd baml_language
cargo fmt
cargo test -p baml_cli project_table

Output:

running 2 tests
test project_load::tests::rejects_project_table_with_package_hint ... ok
test project_load::tests::walk_up_reports_project_table_typo ... ok

test result: ok. 2 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 211 filtered out; finished in 0.00s

cargo test -p baml_cli skill_baml_toml_template_uses_package_table

Output:

test agent_command::tests::skill_baml_toml_template_uses_package_table ... ok

test result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 212 filtered out; finished in 0.00s

cargo test -p baml_cli --test exit_code_e2e describe_with_project_table_reports_package_hint

Output:

test describe_with_project_table_reports_package_hint ... ok

test result: ok. 1 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 23 filtered out; finished in 0.30s

Required Rust library tests:

RUSTFLAGS="-L native=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -l node" cargo test --lib

Output ended with all library test binaries passing, including:

test result: ok. 55 passed; 0 failed; 0 ignored; 0 measured; 0 filtered out; finished in 0.00s

Full workspace suite (using the repository's configured nextest setup scripts for SDK fixtures):

cargo nextest run

Output:

Summary [1367.433s] 5635 tests run: 5635 passed (2 slow), 40 skipped

Manual reproduction after the change:

tmp=$(mktemp -d /tmp/baml-project-header.XXXXXX)
printf '[project]\nname = "test"\nversion = "0.1.0"\n' > "$tmp/baml.toml"
BAML_CLI_ALLOW_DIRECT=1 ./target/debug/baml-cli describe String --from "$tmp"

Output:

error: /tmp/baml-project-header.f2BM1Y/baml.toml: `[project]` is not a recognized table in baml.toml; did you mean `[package]`?

exit=4

Issue Reference

• This PR fixes/closes #[issue number]

Changes

See The fix above.

Testing

• Unit tests added/updated
• Manual testing performed
• Tested in Linux/Cursor Cloud

Screenshots

Not applicable.

PR Checklist

• I have read and followed the contributing guidelines
• My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings

Additional Notes

All source changes are scoped to baml_language/. The legacy engine/ directory was not modified.

  

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