From fd2c72292d878e4052bb0de8830c7d18d7c1fec1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Schmitt <joe@compass.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2026 15:09:44 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] fix: make sort direction defaults context-sensitive
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
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The --sort-direction flag now defaults to:
- desc for priority (higher priority first)
- asc for alpha and label (A→Z order)

Previously all sort modes defaulted to desc, which felt backwards
for alphabetical and label sorting.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 main.go      |  9 ++++++++-
 main_test.go | 14 +++++++-------
 2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 8396088..5164b81 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ type CLI struct {
 	NoCache    bool     `help:"Skip cache, force fresh search"`
 	ClearCache bool     `help:"Clear cache and exit"`
 	Sort          string `help:"Sort order: alpha, priority, label (default: priority)" default:"priority" enum:"alpha,priority,label"`
-	SortDirection string `help:"Sort direction: asc, desc (default: desc)" default:"desc" enum:"asc,desc" name:"sort-direction"`
+	SortDirection string `help:"Sort direction: asc, desc (default: desc for priority, asc for alpha/label)" default:"" enum:",asc,desc" name:"sort-direction"`
 	JSON       bool     `short:"j" help:"Output results in JSON format"`
 	Verbose    bool     `short:"v" help:"Enable debug output"`
 	Version    bool     `short:"V" help:"Show version"`
@@ -123,6 +123,13 @@ func formatOutput(format string, values map[string]string) string {
 }
 
 func sortProjects(projects []discover.Project, sortBy, direction string, mapper *icons.Mapper) {
+	if direction == "" {
+		if sortBy == "priority" {
+			direction = "desc"
+		} else {
+			direction = "asc"
+		}
+	}
 	desc := direction == "desc"
 	sort.SliceStable(projects, func(i, j int) bool {
 		switch sortBy {
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index f215b80..fea2c75 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -1725,7 +1725,7 @@ func TestCLI_SortAlpha(t *testing.T) {
 	createTestProject(t, tmpDir, "z-project", "go.mod")
 	createTestProject(t, tmpDir, "a-project", ".git/")
 
-	stdout, stderr, err := runPJ(t, "-p", tmpDir, "--no-cache", "--sort", "alpha", "--sort-direction", "asc")
+	stdout, stderr, err := runPJ(t, "-p", tmpDir, "--no-cache", "--sort", "alpha")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("pj failed: %v\nStderr: %s", err, stderr)
 	}
@@ -1786,15 +1786,15 @@ func TestCLI_SortLabel(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected 3 projects, got %d", len(lines))
 	}
 
-	// Default direction is desc, so label desc: rust > go > git
-	if !strings.Contains(lines[0], "rust-project") {
-		t.Errorf("Label desc: first line should be rust-project, got: %s", lines[0])
+	// Default direction is asc, so label asc: git < go < rust
+	if !strings.Contains(lines[0], "git-project") {
+		t.Errorf("Label asc: first line should be git-project, got: %s", lines[0])
 	}
 	if !strings.Contains(lines[1], "go-project") {
-		t.Errorf("Label desc: second line should be go-project, got: %s", lines[1])
+		t.Errorf("Label asc: second line should be go-project, got: %s", lines[1])
 	}
-	if !strings.Contains(lines[2], "git-project") {
-		t.Errorf("Label desc: third line should be git-project, got: %s", lines[2])
+	if !strings.Contains(lines[2], "rust-project") {
+		t.Errorf("Label asc: third line should be rust-project, got: %s", lines[2])
 	}
 }