`--exclude` replaces the project config's exclude list instead of merging — excluding nothing *adds* files

[JordanCoin]

Version: 4.4.2 (Homebrew) · macOS

Summary

A CLI --exclude overrides .codemap/config.json's exclude array rather than adding to it. Passing a pattern that matches nothing therefore increases the file count, because the project's own exclusions stop applying.

Repro

In a repo whose .codemap/config.json has a non-empty exclude list (mine excluded a vendor directory and a submodule path):

codemap .                        # Files: 143
codemap --exclude ZZZNOMATCH .   # Files: 159

Expected

--exclude ZZZNOMATCH matches no path, so the count should stay 143. Excluding more should never yield more.

Actual

159 — the 16 files the project config was excluding reappear.

Impact

Quiet rather than dramatic, but it means --exclude cannot be used to narrow a scan on any repo that has a config file: every use silently widens the scan first. It also makes --exclude results non-comparable to bare codemap . output, which is exactly when you'd reach for it.

Suggested fix

Union the two lists. If replacing is ever wanted, make it explicit — --exclude-only, or a documented note in --help that the flag overrides project config.