fix(cli): follow externalized state in squad copilot and squad rc

[omercangumus]

What

squad copilot and squad rc now follow the stateLocation: external marker: roster reads and writes go to the external state dir instead of the local .squad/team.md.

Why

Closes #1397
Closes #1398
Part of #1402

After squad externalize, both commands kept operating on the working-tree copy. squad copilot edited (or, on add, effectively scaffolded) a local roster the externalized project never reads — the real team.md in the external dir never learned about @copilot. squad rc loaded its agent list from the same dead file, so the remote UI showed an empty or stale roster.

How

• commands/copilot.ts: resolves through effectiveSquadDir() — the same external-state-aware resolution already used by export, build, loop, plugin, watch, and doctor (fix(cli): resolve externalized state in squad export #1443 precedent) — and reads/writes team.md in the effective state dir. The .github/copilot-instructions.md copy is a working-tree file and is untouched.
• commands/rc.ts: the roster load moves into an exported loadRosterAgents(squadDir) that routes the team.md read through resolveStateDir(). Deliberately narrow: the squadDir passed to RemoteBridge stays the local path, because the bridge derives the copilot session cwd from it by stripping the /.squad suffix (packages/squad-sdk/src/remote/bridge.ts) — handing it the external state dir would point ACP sessions at the wrong directory. Only the read is redirected.
• Legacy .ai-team behavior is unchanged in both commands — no external marker there, resolution falls through to the local path.
• [External State] squad cast does not follow externalized state for agent discovery #1399 (squad cast agent discovery) is not in this PR; it crosses into squad-sdk's resolveSquadPaths/LocalAgentSource and lands separately.

Testing

• test/cli/copilot.test.ts: two new tests against a marker-only .squad/ + external state dir (the layout squad externalize leaves behind, same APPDATA/XDG override pattern as the fix(cli): resolve externalized state in squad export #1443 export tests): add writes the Coding Agent section to the external team.md and does not grow a local one; --off removes it from the external file.
• test/cli/rc.test.ts: two new tests for loadRosterAgents — local read without the marker, and the marker redirecting to the external team.md while a stale local roster is present (the stale copy must lose).
• npm run build — passes. npm run lint (tsc) — passes. npm run lint:eslint — 0 errors (pre-existing warnings only).
• npx vitest run test/cli/copilot.test.ts test/cli/rc.test.ts test/cli/export-import.test.ts — all four new tests pass; the export suite (adjacent feature area) passes.
• Known local-env caveat: the first module exports … test in each of these two files times out at 5s on this Windows box — verified byte-identical failures on a clean upstream/dev checkout with a clean build (stash + rebuild + rerun), so it's the documented pre-existing cold-import flakiness (same class as noted on feat(cli): add squad update-check --json for tooling/CI #1440), not this change. All other 51 tests in the two files pass.
• rc.ts is committed with CRLF endings; edits preserve CRLF per CONTRIBUTING's line-ending rule, so git diff --check reports CR on added lines — expected for this file, no mixed endings introduced (git ls-files --eol: i/crlf w/crlf).

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⚠️ Quick Check

• Changeset added: .changeset/fix-1397-1398-external-state-reads.md (patch bump, @bradygaster/squad-cli only)

PR Readiness Checklist

Branch & Commit

• Branch created from dev
• Branch is up to date with dev
• Verified diff contains only intended changes (git diff --cached --stat + git diff -w whitespace pass)
• PR is not in draft mode
• Commit history is clean (single commit)

Build & Test

• npm run build passes
• npm test passes (see testing notes for the pre-existing local cold-import timeouts)
• npm run lint passes (type check clean)
• npm run lint:eslint passes (0 errors)

Changeset

• Changeset added (patch, @bradygaster/squad-cli)

Docs

• N/A — behavior fix inside existing commands, no new user-facing surface

Exports

• N/A — loadRosterAgents is a named export from commands/rc, which already has a subpath export; no new module

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Breaking Changes

None. Projects without the external marker resolve to the local .squad/ exactly as before.

Waivers

None.

[github-actions]

🛫 PR Readiness Check

ℹ️ This comment updates on each push. Last checked: commit d6b5159

PR Scope: 📦🔧 Mixed (product + infrastructure)

⚠️ 2 item(s) to address before review

Status	Check	Details
✅	Single commit	1 commit — clean history
✅	Not in draft	Ready for review
✅	Branch up to date	Up to date with dev
❌	Copilot review	No Copilot review yet — it may still be processing
✅	Changeset present	Changeset file found
✅	Scope clean	No .squad/ or docs/proposals/ files
✅	No merge conflicts	No merge conflicts
✅	Copilot threads resolved	No Copilot review threads
❌	CI passing	7 check(s) still running

Files Changed (5 files, +167 −18)

File	+/−
.changeset/fix-1397-1398-external-state-reads.md	+5 −0
packages/squad-cli/src/cli/commands/copilot.ts	+9 −9
packages/squad-cli/src/cli/commands/rc.ts	+21 −8
test/cli/copilot.test.ts	+63 −1
test/cli/rc.test.ts	+69 −0

Total: +167 −18

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This check runs automatically on every push. Fix any ❌ items and push again.
See CONTRIBUTING.md and PR Requirements for details.

[github-actions]

🟡 Impact Analysis — PR #1464

Risk tier: 🟡 MEDIUM

📊 Summary

Metric	Count
Files changed	5
Files added	1
Files modified	4
Files deleted	0
Modules touched	3

🎯 Risk Factors

• 5 files changed (≤5 → LOW)
• 3 modules touched (2-4 → MEDIUM)

📦 Modules Affected

root (1 file)

• .changeset/fix-1397-1398-external-state-reads.md

squad-cli (2 files)

• packages/squad-cli/src/cli/commands/copilot.ts
• packages/squad-cli/src/cli/commands/rc.ts

tests (2 files)

• test/cli/copilot.test.ts
• test/cli/rc.test.ts

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This report is generated automatically for every PR. See #733 for details.

[omercangumus]

green and unreviewed for a couple of days now — this is the copilot/rc half of the external-state cluster, same fix pattern as #1465 which already merged