From 0191c0db73d49e6ac126619049a6bae5f2d02334 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: santhreal <64453045+santhreal@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:24:03 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(pairing): treat null approved channel lists as empty

pairing.json with "telegram": null crashed is_approved during load.
Treat non-list channel entries as an empty allow-list.
---
 nanobot/pairing/store.py    |  2 ++
 tests/pairing/test_store.py | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/nanobot/pairing/store.py b/nanobot/pairing/store.py
index 92e75ce3..afafb1ec 100644
--- a/nanobot/pairing/store.py
+++ b/nanobot/pairing/store.py
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ def _load() -> dict[str, Any]:
 
     # Convert approved lists to str sets for O(1) lookup.
     for channel, users in data.get("approved", {}).items():
+        if not isinstance(users, list):
+            users = []
         data["approved"][channel] = {str(u) for u in users}
     return data
 
diff --git a/tests/pairing/test_store.py b/tests/pairing/test_store.py
index af38fe70..56c84f5d 100644
--- a/tests/pairing/test_store.py
+++ b/tests/pairing/test_store.py
@@ -240,3 +240,20 @@ class TestStoreDurability:
         # Should recover gracefully and act as empty store
         assert store.list_pending() == []
         assert store.is_approved("telegram", "123") is False
+
+
+def test_load_treats_null_approved_channel_list_as_empty(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """Null approved channel lists must not crash pairing checks.
+
+    JSON stores can contain ``"telegram": null`` after partial edits; treat
+    that like an empty allow-list, matching corrupt-JSON reset behavior.
+    """
+    path = tmp_path / "pairing.json"
+    path.write_text(
+        '{"approved": {"telegram": null, "discord": ["456"]}, "pending": {}}',
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(store, "_store_path", lambda: path)
+    assert store.is_approved("telegram", "123") is False
+    assert store.is_approved("discord", "456") is True
+    assert store.get_approved("telegram") == []