Description

When preflight detects the container runtime is under-provisioned (less than the recommended 4 vCPU / 8 GiB), it prints a ⚠ warning and prompts the user to confirm. In v0.0.50 the prompt is "Continue with onboarding? [Y/n]:" with default Y. A user who hits Enter accidentally PROCEEDS with the under-provisioned runtime silently — the sandbox build then likely stalls at npm ci / docker build. DevTest test T6000366 expected the safer "[y/N]:" default (N = abort), which is the standard CLI convention for ⚠ warnings. Verified on both macOS (Colima --memory 4) and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (kernel mem=10G). The default direction looks unintentional; it inverts the "protect the user" semantics of the warning.

Environment

Tested on TWO platforms with identical wording + default:

Platform 1 — macOS:
Device:        MacBook Pro (Apple M4)
OS:            macOS 26.1 (Darwin 25.1.0)
Architecture:  arm64
Node.js:       v23.10.0
npm:           11.3.0
Docker:        27.4.0 (Colima 0.0.44 reconfigured with --memory 4)
OpenShell CLI: 0.0.44
NemoClaw:      v0.0.50
OpenClaw:      N/A (preflight only — sandbox not created)

Platform 2 — Ubuntu:
Device:        Ubuntu lab host
OS:            Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
Kernel:        6.17.0-29-generic (booted with mem=10G)
Architecture:  x86_64
Node.js:       v23.10.0
npm:           11.3.0
Docker:        29.5.0
OpenShell CLI: 0.0.44
NemoClaw:      v0.0.50
OpenClaw:      N/A (preflight only)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure your runtime so docker info shows less than 8 GiB total memory:
   • macOS: colima stop && colima start --memory 4
   • Linux: swapoff -a, then edit GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT to add mem=10G, run update-grub, reboot
2. Run:

   nemoclaw onboard --fresh --name memprov-test

3. Observe the prompt at [1/8] preflight:

   ⚠ Container runtime under-provisioned: 6 vCPU / 3.8 GiB detected (recommended: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB).
     The sandbox build will be slow and may stall on default Colima settings.
     Suggested: colima stop && colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8
     Set NEMOCLAW_IGNORE_RUNTIME_RESOURCES=1 to silence this check.
   Continue with onboarding? [Y/n]:
   

4. Hit Enter (default) without typing anything.
5. Onboard PROCEEDS past the warning onto the under-provisioned runtime.

Expected Result

Per DevTest T6000366 expected text and standard CLI convention for ⚠ protective warnings:

Continue anyway? [y/N]:

Default N — pressing Enter (or hitting the prompt with stdin already drained) aborts the onboard. The user must explicitly type y to override.

Actual Result

Continue with onboarding? [Y/n]:

Default Y — pressing Enter proceeds with the known-bad runtime. The protective warning effectively requires the user to TYPE n to be respected, inverting the standard UX.

Verified identical wording + default on macOS (T6000366) and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (encountered as a prior prompt during T6000368 swap-creation test).

Logs

macOS run (T6000366, Colima --memory 4):

  ⚠ Container runtime under-provisioned: 6 vCPU / 3.8 GiB detected (recommended: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB).
    The sandbox build will be slow and may stall on default Colima settings.
    Suggested: colima stop && colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8
    Set NEMOCLAW_IGNORE_RUNTIME_RESOURCES=1 to silence this check.
  Continue with onboarding? [Y/n]: n
  Aborted by user. Resize your container runtime and rerun `nemoclaw onboard`.

Ubuntu run (T6000368 pre-condition, mem=10G):

  ⚠ Container runtime under-provisioned: 16 vCPU / 6.9 GiB detected (recommended: 4 vCPU / 8 GiB).
    The sandbox build will be slow and may stall on default Colima settings.
    Set NEMOCLAW_IGNORE_RUNTIME_RESOURCES=1 to silence this check.
  Continue with onboarding? [Y/n]: y
  ✓ openshell CLI: openshell 0.0.44
  ...

Suggested fix: switch the prompt to default N. NEMOCLAW_IGNORE_RUNTIME_RESOURCES=1 stays available as a non-interactive escape hatch (verified in T6000367 — bypasses the prompt entirely).

NVB#6222750