Fix targets:/skills:/alias: ignored on path: dependency entries

[sergio-sisternes-epam]

TL;DR

targets:, skills:, and alias: on a path: dependency entry were silently ignored during apm install. This PR fixes the two-line root cause and adds serialization symmetry plus full test coverage.

Fixes #1982

---

Problem (WHY)

DependencyReference.parse_from_dict handled path: entries with an early return cls.parse(local) that discarded every other field in the entry dict:

# BEFORE (buggy)
if "path" in entry and "git" not in entry:
    ...
    return cls.parse(local)   # targets:/skills:/alias: never read

For git: entries the same method reads targets_raw = entry.get("targets") and applies it. Local path: entries fell off the bottom of that block entirely.

Secondary: to_apm_yml_entry always emitted {"git": ...} when skill_subset or target_subset was set -- correct for remote deps, wrong for local ones (would round-trip as a remote git URL).

---

Approach (WHAT)

• Fix 1 -- parse_from_dict: replace return cls.parse(local) with dep = cls.parse(local), then read and apply alias, skills, and targets from the entry dict before returning. Validation mirrors the git: path exactly.
• Fix 2 -- to_apm_yml_entry: add an early-exit guard for is_local deps that emits {"path": ...} with the correct optional keys instead of falling into the {"git": ...} block.

---

Implementation (HOW)

Files changed

File	Change
src/apm_cli/models/dependency/reference.py	Fix parse_from_dict + to_apm_yml_entry
tests/unit/test_dep_targets_persistence.py	TestLocalPathDepTargets -- 5 new tests
tests/unit/test_skill_subset_persistence.py	2 new path: + skills: tests
packages/apm-guide/.apm/skills/apm-usage/dependencies.md	Document path: support for targets:

Trade-offs

• No pipeline changes needed -- install/template.py already threads dep_ref.target_subset into integrate_package_primitives. The bug was entirely in the model layer.
• The fix is deliberately minimal: only the path: branch of parse_from_dict and an early-exit guard in to_apm_yml_entry change. All git: behaviour is unchanged.

---

Validation evidence

tests/unit/test_dep_targets_persistence.py        72 passed
tests/unit/test_skill_subset_persistence.py       (all existing + 2 new)
tests/unit/integration/test_dep_target_intersection.py  (all existing)
ruff check / ruff format --check     -- clean
pylint R0801                         -- 10.00/10
lint-auth-signals.sh                 -- clean

---

How to test

python -c "
from apm_cli.models.dependency.reference import DependencyReference
dep = DependencyReference.parse_from_dict({'path': './local', 'targets': ['claude']})
assert dep.target_subset == ['claude'], f'got {dep.target_subset!r}'
print('[+] targets: on path: dep is now parsed correctly')
"

uv run --extra dev pytest tests/unit/test_dep_targets_persistence.py::TestLocalPathDepTargets -v

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Fixes a model-layer parsing/serialization bug where object-form local path: dependencies dropped targets:, skills:, and alias: during apm install, and ensures to_apm_yml_entry() round-trips local deps correctly.

Changes:

• Preserve and validate alias:, skills:, and targets: for object-form path: dependencies in DependencyReference.parse_from_dict.
• Serialize local path: dependencies as {path: ...} dict entries (with optional alias/skills/targets) instead of incorrectly emitting {git: ...} when subsets are present.
• Add unit tests covering targets: / skills: persistence for local path: deps and document targets: support for path: dependencies.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/apm_cli/models/dependency/reference.py	Fix parsing and serialization so local path: deps honor alias/skills/targets and serialize symmetrically.
tests/unit/test_dep_targets_persistence.py	Add regression coverage for targets: on local path: deps.
tests/unit/test_skill_subset_persistence.py	Add regression coverage for skills: on local path: deps and dict-form emission.
packages/apm-guide/.apm/skills/apm-usage/dependencies.md	Document that targets: applies to both git: and path: dependency forms.