fix: _validate_env_vars skips Anthropic-backend agents + missing sed escaping

- bin/disinto: Remove '[ -n "$base_url" ] || continue' guard that caused
  all Anthropic-backend agents to be silently skipped during validation.
  The base_url check is now scoped only to backend-credential selection.

- lib/hire-agent.sh: Add sed escaping for ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL value before
  sed substitution (same pattern as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY at line 256).

Fixes AI review BLOCKER and MINOR issues on PR #866.

bin/disinto

@@ -1789,7 +1789,6 @@ _validate_env_vars() {
     while IFS='|' read -r service_name forge_user base_url _api_key; do
       [ -n "$service_name" ] || continue
       [ -n "$forge_user" ] || continue
-      [ -n "$base_url" ] || continue
 
       # Derive variable names (user -> USER_UPPER)
       local user_upper
@@ -1809,7 +1808,7 @@ _validate_env_vars() {
         errors=$((errors + 1))
       fi
 
-      # Check backend URL or API key
+      # Check backend URL or API key (conditional based on base_url presence)
       if [ -n "$base_url" ]; then
         # Local model: needs ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL
         if [ -z "${env_vars[ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL]:-}" ]; then

lib/hire-agent.sh

@@ -30,6 +30,29 @@ disinto_hire_an_agent() {
     echo "Usage: disinto hire-an-agent <agent-name> <role> [--formula <path>] [--local-model <url>] [--model <name>] [--poll-interval <seconds>]" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
+
+  # Validate agent name before any side effects (Forgejo user creation, TOML
+  # write, token issuance). The name flows through several systems that have
+  # stricter rules than the raw TOML spec:
+  #   - load-project.sh emits shell vars keyed by the name (dashes are mapped
+  #     to underscores via tr 'a-z-' 'A-Z_')
+  #   - generators.sh emits a docker-compose service name `agents-<name>` and
+  #     uppercases it for env var keys (#852 tracks the `^^` bug; we keep the
+  #     grammar tight here so that fix can happen without re-validation)
+  #   - Forgejo usernames are lowercase alnum + dash
+  # Constraint: start with a lowercase letter, contain only [a-z0-9-], end
+  # with a lowercase letter or digit (no trailing dash), no consecutive
+  # dashes. Rejecting at hire-time prevents unparseable TOML sections like
+  # [agents.dev-qwen2] from landing on disk and crashing load-project.sh on
+  # the next `disinto up` (#862).
+  if ! [[ "$agent_name" =~ ^[a-z]([a-z0-9]|-[a-z0-9])*$ ]]; then
+    echo "Error: invalid agent name '${agent_name}'" >&2
+    echo "  Agent names must match: ^[a-z]([a-z0-9]|-[a-z0-9])*$" >&2
+    echo "  (lowercase letters/digits/single dashes, starts with letter, ends with alphanumeric)" >&2
+    echo "  Examples: dev, dev-qwen2, review-qwen, planner" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   shift 2
 
   # Parse flags
@@ -239,8 +262,10 @@ disinto_hire_an_agent() {
     # Local model agent: write ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL
     local backend_var="ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL"
     local backend_val="$local_model"
+    local escaped_val
+    escaped_val=$(printf '%s\n' "$backend_val" | sed 's/[&/\]/\\&/g')
     if grep -q "^${backend_var}=" "$env_file" 2>/dev/null; then
-      sed -i "s|^${backend_var}=.*|${backend_var}=${backend_val}|" "$env_file"
+      sed -i "s|^${backend_var}=.*|${backend_var}=${escaped_val}|" "$env_file"
       echo "  ${backend_var} updated"
     else
       printf '%s=%s\n' "$backend_var" "$backend_val" >> "$env_file"

lib/load-project.sh

@@ -129,20 +129,26 @@ agents = cfg.get('agents', {})
 for name, config in agents.items():
     if not isinstance(config, dict):
         continue
+    # Normalize the TOML section key into a valid shell identifier fragment.
+    # TOML allows dashes in bare keys (e.g. [agents.dev-qwen2]), but POSIX
+    # shell var names cannot contain '-'. Match the 'tr a-z- A-Z_' convention
+    # used in hire-agent.sh (#834) and generators.sh (#852) so the var names
+    # stay consistent across the stack.
+    safe = name.upper().replace('-', '_')
     # Emit variables in uppercase with the agent name
     if 'base_url' in config:
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_BASE_URL={config[\"base_url\"]}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_BASE_URL={config[\"base_url\"]}')
     if 'model' in config:
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_MODEL={config[\"model\"]}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_MODEL={config[\"model\"]}')
     if 'api_key' in config:
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_API_KEY={config[\"api_key\"]}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_API_KEY={config[\"api_key\"]}')
     if 'roles' in config:
         roles = ' '.join(config['roles']) if isinstance(config['roles'], list) else config['roles']
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_ROLES={roles}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_ROLES={roles}')
     if 'forge_user' in config:
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_FORGE_USER={config[\"forge_user\"]}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_FORGE_USER={config[\"forge_user\"]}')
     if 'compact_pct' in config:
-        print(f'AGENT_{name.upper()}_COMPACT_PCT={config[\"compact_pct\"]}')
+        print(f'AGENT_{safe}_COMPACT_PCT={config[\"compact_pct\"]}')
 " "$_PROJECT_TOML" 2>/dev/null) || true
 
   if [ -n "$_AGENT_VARS" ]; then

tests/lib-load-project.bats

@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+# =============================================================================
+# tests/lib-load-project.bats — Regression guard for the #862 fix.
+#
+# TOML allows dashes in bare keys, so `[agents.dev-qwen2]` is a valid section
+# header. Before #862, load-project.sh translated the section name into a
+# shell variable name via Python's `.upper()` alone, which kept the dash and
+# produced `AGENT_DEV-QWEN2_BASE_URL`. `export "AGENT_DEV-QWEN2_..."` is
+# rejected by bash ("not a valid identifier"), and with `set -euo pipefail`
+# anywhere up-stack that error aborts load-project.sh — effectively crashing
+# the factory on the N+1 run after a dashed agent was hired.
+#
+# The fix normalizes via `.upper().replace('-', '_')`, matching the
+# `tr 'a-z-' 'A-Z_'` convention already used in hire-agent.sh and
+# generators.sh.
+# =============================================================================
+
+setup() {
+  ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$BATS_TEST_FILENAME")/.." && pwd)"
+  TOML="${BATS_TEST_TMPDIR}/test.toml"
+}
+
+@test "dashed [agents.*] section name parses without error" {
+  cat > "$TOML" <<EOF
+name      = "test"
+repo      = "test-owner/test-repo"
+forge_url = "http://localhost:3000"
+
+[agents.dev-qwen2]
+base_url    = "http://10.10.10.1:8081"
+model       = "unsloth/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B"
+api_key     = "sk-no-key-required"
+roles       = ["dev"]
+forge_user  = "dev-qwen2"
+compact_pct = 60
+EOF
+
+  run bash -c "
+    set -euo pipefail
+    source '${ROOT}/lib/load-project.sh' '$TOML'
+    echo \"BASE=\${AGENT_DEV_QWEN2_BASE_URL:-MISSING}\"
+    echo \"MODEL=\${AGENT_DEV_QWEN2_MODEL:-MISSING}\"
+    echo \"ROLES=\${AGENT_DEV_QWEN2_ROLES:-MISSING}\"
+    echo \"FORGE_USER=\${AGENT_DEV_QWEN2_FORGE_USER:-MISSING}\"
+    echo \"COMPACT=\${AGENT_DEV_QWEN2_COMPACT_PCT:-MISSING}\"
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"BASE=http://10.10.10.1:8081"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"MODEL=unsloth/Qwen3.5-35B-A3B"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"ROLES=dev"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"FORGE_USER=dev-qwen2"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"COMPACT=60"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "dashless [agents.*] section name still works" {
+  cat > "$TOML" <<EOF
+name      = "test"
+repo      = "test-owner/test-repo"
+forge_url = "http://localhost:3000"
+
+[agents.llama]
+base_url    = "http://10.10.10.1:8081"
+model       = "qwen"
+api_key     = "sk-no-key-required"
+roles       = ["dev"]
+forge_user  = "dev-llama"
+compact_pct = 60
+EOF
+
+  run bash -c "
+    set -euo pipefail
+    source '${ROOT}/lib/load-project.sh' '$TOML'
+    echo \"BASE=\${AGENT_LLAMA_BASE_URL:-MISSING}\"
+    echo \"MODEL=\${AGENT_LLAMA_MODEL:-MISSING}\"
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"BASE=http://10.10.10.1:8081"* ]]
+  [[ "$output" == *"MODEL=qwen"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "multiple dashes in [agents.*] name all normalized" {
+  cat > "$TOML" <<EOF
+name      = "test"
+repo      = "test-owner/test-repo"
+forge_url = "http://localhost:3000"
+
+[agents.review-qwen-3b]
+base_url    = "http://10.10.10.1:8082"
+model       = "qwen-3b"
+api_key     = "sk-no-key-required"
+roles       = ["review"]
+forge_user  = "review-qwen-3b"
+compact_pct = 60
+EOF
+
+  run bash -c "
+    set -euo pipefail
+    source '${ROOT}/lib/load-project.sh' '$TOML'
+    echo \"BASE=\${AGENT_REVIEW_QWEN_3B_BASE_URL:-MISSING}\"
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"BASE=http://10.10.10.1:8082"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "hire-agent rejects dash-starting agent name" {
+  run bash -c "
+    FACTORY_ROOT='${ROOT}' \
+    FORGE_URL='http://127.0.0.1:1' \
+    FORGE_TOKEN=x \
+    bash -c '
+      set -euo pipefail
+      source \"\${FACTORY_ROOT}/lib/hire-agent.sh\"
+      disinto_hire_an_agent -foo dev
+    '
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "hire-agent rejects uppercase agent name" {
+  run bash -c "
+    FACTORY_ROOT='${ROOT}' \
+    FORGE_URL='http://127.0.0.1:1' \
+    FORGE_TOKEN=x \
+    bash -c '
+      set -euo pipefail
+      source \"\${FACTORY_ROOT}/lib/hire-agent.sh\"
+      disinto_hire_an_agent DevQwen dev
+    '
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "hire-agent rejects underscore agent name" {
+  run bash -c "
+    FACTORY_ROOT='${ROOT}' \
+    FORGE_URL='http://127.0.0.1:1' \
+    FORGE_TOKEN=x \
+    bash -c '
+      set -euo pipefail
+      source \"\${FACTORY_ROOT}/lib/hire-agent.sh\"
+      disinto_hire_an_agent dev_qwen dev
+    '
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "hire-agent rejects trailing dash agent name" {
+  run bash -c "
+    FACTORY_ROOT='${ROOT}' \
+    FORGE_URL='http://127.0.0.1:1' \
+    FORGE_TOKEN=x \
+    bash -c '
+      set -euo pipefail
+      source \"\${FACTORY_ROOT}/lib/hire-agent.sh\"
+      disinto_hire_an_agent dev- dev
+    '
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "hire-agent rejects consecutive-dash agent name" {
+  run bash -c "
+    FACTORY_ROOT='${ROOT}' \
+    FORGE_URL='http://127.0.0.1:1' \
+    FORGE_TOKEN=x \
+    bash -c '
+      set -euo pipefail
+      source \"\${FACTORY_ROOT}/lib/hire-agent.sh\"
+      disinto_hire_an_agent dev--qwen dev
+    '
+  "
+
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
+}