---
name: feedback_ascii_only_api_payloads
description: On Windows/Git-bash, non-ASCII chars (em-dash, arrow, smart quotes) in JSON payload TEXT passed to curl get mangled and rejected — Discord bot-alert returns 400, the coord API returns "error parsing the body". Use ASCII-only in API payload text, or a single-quoted heredoc.
metadata:
  type: feedback
---

When building JSON API payloads on Windows/Git-bash and sending via `curl`, **non-ASCII characters
in the text fields get mangled in transit and rejected by the server**, even though `jq -n`
produces valid UTF-8 JSON. Hit twice on 2026-06-01:
- `post-bot-alert.sh` → Discord **400** `{"message":"The request body contains invalid JSON","code":50109}` on a message containing `—` (em-dash) and `→` (arrow).
- Coord todos API (`POST /api/coord/todos`) → **`{"detail":"There was an error parsing the body"}`** on todo text containing em-dashes (both the inline `$(jq -n ...)` and the `P=$(jq -n ...); curl --data-binary "$P"` patterns failed).

**Why:** the round-trip through a bash variable → `curl --data-binary` re-encodes/mangles the
multibyte UTF-8 (Git-bash codepage quirk), so the bytes the server receives are no longer valid JSON.

**Fix:** keep API payload text **ASCII-only** — use `-` not `—`, `->` not `→`, straight quotes not
smart quotes. The most robust transport is a **single-quoted heredoc** piped to curl:
```bash
curl -s -X POST "$API" -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data-binary @- <<'JSON'
{"text":"ASCII only - no em-dashes or arrows","project_key":"..."}
JSON
```
This bit the Syncro bot-alert (resolved by ASCII retry) and the coord-todo filings the same day.
NOTE-TO-SELF tie-in: the project's NO-EMOJIS rule already pushes ASCII markers; extend that habit to
all API payload text, not just console output.