fix(apply-pack-interview): load .env before callCouncil — env-shadow-on-lazy-dotenv

[mitwilli-create]

Summary

Theme 7 PR 3 (#329) shipped scripts/agents/apply-pack-interview.mjs without a dotenv import. In any shell where ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is not already exported (Mitchell's shell pre-sets it to empty string), callCouncil silently returns { results: [], missingKeys: [{ model: 'anthropic:claude-sonnet-4-6', missingEnvVar: 'ANTHROPIC_API_KEY' }] } and the agent fails with the opaque message [plan] error: no result.

Surfaced 2026-05-29 on the first live exercise of /apply-pack-interview against row #1 (Anthropic Communications Manager, Research) — the live-exercise found a ship-blocker that the test suite couldn't see (tests use mocks, never call out to real callCouncil).

Fix

Load .env at script start with override:true (matches cv-tailor.mjs and the rest of the agent fleet). Per the existing env-shadow-on-lazy-dotenv bug class in AGENTS.md:

try {
  const { config } = await import('dotenv');
  config({ path: join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..', '..', '.env'), override: true });
} catch { /* dotenv optional — silently skip if not installed */ }

The override:true flag is non-negotiable here because of how Mitchell's shell handles the env var.

Smoke test (passed)

$ node scripts/agents/apply-pack-interview.mjs --plan 001-anthropic-communications-manager-research
◇ injected env (82) from .env
[plan] generated 8 questions for 001-anthropic-communications-manager-research ($0.0521)
[plan] saved to /Users/.../data/apply-pack-interview-001-anthropic-communications-manager-research.json

Questions cover the expected revision surfaces: comms-manager-scope (cv-tailored), research-translation-proof / crisis-or-sensitive-comms / anthropic-safety-fluency (cover-letter), media-relationships / writing-sample-availability (form-fields), team-size-managed (cv-tailored), anthropic-internal-connection (referrals).

Test plan

• Merge the PR
• Re-run node scripts/agents/apply-pack-interview.mjs --plan <slug> in a fresh shell where ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="" is exported (the canonical failure-mode shell)
• Confirm plan generates without [plan] error: no result

Related

• Builds on feat(theme7): PR 3 — /apply-pack-interview skill + agent #329 (Theme 7 PR 3 — original /apply-pack-interview ship)
• Companion bug-class: AGENTS.md ### Bug class: env-shadow-on-lazy-dotenv
• Live-exercise that found this: 2026-05-29 R4 residual (apply-pack-interview on Anthropic Communications Manager, Research)

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