fix(backend): address PR review — integration tests and cleaner ragged row handling

Add 6 integration tests for bare ref structured parsing in
expand_file_refs_in_args (JSON, CSV, YAML, unknown extension, invalid
JSON fallback, embedded ref stays string).

Simplify _tabular_to_list_of_dicts to use zip + pad instead of
index-based iteration, per reviewer suggestion.

autogpt_platform/backend/backend/copilot/sdk/file_ref.py

@@ -369,10 +369,13 @@ def _tabular_to_list_of_dicts(parsed: list) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
     """Convert [[header], [row1], ...] → [{header[0]: row[0], ...}, ...].
 
     Ragged rows (fewer columns than the header) get None for missing values.
+    Extra values beyond the header length are silently dropped.
     """
     header = parsed[0]
+    n = len(header)
     return [
-        {col: (row[i] if i < len(row) else None) for i, col in enumerate(header)}
+        # Pad short rows with None; trim extra values beyond header length.
+        dict(zip(header, (row + [None] * n)[:n]))
         for row in parsed[1:]
     ]
 

autogpt_platform/backend/backend/copilot/sdk/file_ref_integration_test.py

@@ -175,6 +175,139 @@ async def test_expand_args_replaces_file_ref_in_nested_dict():
         assert result["count"] == 42
 
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# expand_file_refs_in_args — bare ref structured parsing
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_bare_ref_json_returns_parsed_dict():
+    """Bare ref to a .json file returns parsed dict, not raw string."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        json_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "data.json")
+        with open(json_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write('{"key": "value", "count": 42}')
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"data": f"@@agptfile:{json_file}"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert result["data"] == {"key": "value", "count": 42}
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_bare_ref_csv_returns_parsed_table():
+    """Bare ref to a .csv file returns list[list[str]] table."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        csv_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "data.csv")
+        with open(csv_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write("Name,Score\nAlice,90\nBob,85")
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"input": f"@@agptfile:{csv_file}"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert result["input"] == [
+            ["Name", "Score"],
+            ["Alice", "90"],
+            ["Bob", "85"],
+        ]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_bare_ref_unknown_extension_returns_string():
+    """Bare ref to a file with unknown extension returns plain string."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        txt_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "readme.txt")
+        with open(txt_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write("plain text content")
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"data": f"@@agptfile:{txt_file}"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert result["data"] == "plain text content"
+        assert isinstance(result["data"], str)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_bare_ref_invalid_json_falls_back_to_string():
+    """Bare ref to a .json file with invalid JSON falls back to string."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        json_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "bad.json")
+        with open(json_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write("not valid json {{{")
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"data": f"@@agptfile:{json_file}"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert result["data"] == "not valid json {{{"
+        assert isinstance(result["data"], str)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_embedded_ref_always_returns_string_even_for_json():
+    """Embedded ref (text around it) returns plain string, not parsed JSON."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        json_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "data.json")
+        with open(json_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write('{"key": "value"}')
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"data": f"prefix @@agptfile:{json_file} suffix"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert isinstance(result["data"], str)
+        assert result["data"].startswith("prefix ")
+        assert result["data"].endswith(" suffix")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_bare_ref_yaml_returns_parsed_dict():
+    """Bare ref to a .yaml file returns parsed dict."""
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as sdk_cwd:
+        yaml_file = os.path.join(sdk_cwd, "config.yaml")
+        with open(yaml_file, "w") as f:
+            f.write("name: test\ncount: 42\n")
+
+        with patch("backend.copilot.context._current_sdk_cwd") as mock_cwd_var:
+            mock_cwd_var.get.return_value = sdk_cwd
+
+            result = await expand_file_refs_in_args(
+                {"config": f"@@agptfile:{yaml_file}"},
+                user_id="u1",
+                session=_make_session(),
+            )
+
+        assert result["config"] == {"name": "test", "count": 42}
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # _read_file_handler — extended to accept workspace:// and local paths
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------