fix: write UTF-8 characters in apm.yml instead of escaped \xNN sequences

src/apm_cli/commands/_helpers.py

@@ -448,5 +448,5 @@ def _create_minimal_apm_yml(config, plugin=False):
     apm_yml_data["scripts"] = {}
 
     # Write apm.yml
-    with open(APM_YML_FILENAME, "w") as f:
-        yaml.safe_dump(apm_yml_data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+    with open(APM_YML_FILENAME, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        yaml.safe_dump(apm_yml_data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)

src/apm_cli/commands/install.py

@@ -167,8 +167,8 @@ def _validate_and_add_packages_to_apm_yml(packages, dry_run=False, dev=False):
 
     # Write back to apm.yml
     try:
-        with open(apm_yml_path, "w") as f:
-            yaml.safe_dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+        with open(apm_yml_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            yaml.safe_dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
         _rich_success(f"Updated {APM_YML_FILENAME} with {len(validated_packages)} new package(s)")
     except Exception as e:
         _rich_error(f"Failed to write {APM_YML_FILENAME}: {e}")

src/apm_cli/commands/uninstall/cli.py

@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ def uninstall(ctx, packages, dry_run):
             _rich_info(f"Removed {package} from apm.yml")
         data["dependencies"]["apm"] = current_deps
         try:
-            with open(apm_yml_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.safe_dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+            with open(apm_yml_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                yaml.safe_dump(data, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
             _rich_success(f"Updated {APM_YML_FILENAME} (removed {len(packages_to_remove)} package(s))")
         except Exception as e:
             _rich_error(f"Failed to write {APM_YML_FILENAME}: {e}")

src/apm_cli/core/script_runner.py

@@ -822,8 +822,8 @@ def _add_dependency_to_config(self, package_ref: str) -> None:
             config["dependencies"]["apm"].append(package_ref)
 
             # Write back to file
-            with open(config_path, "w") as f:
-                yaml.dump(config, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+            with open(config_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                yaml.dump(config, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
 
             print(f"  [i]  Added {package_ref} to apm.yml dependencies")
 
@@ -838,8 +838,8 @@ def _create_minimal_config(self) -> None:
             "description": "Auto-generated for zero-config virtual package execution",
         }
 
-        with open("apm.yml", "w") as f:
-            yaml.dump(minimal_config, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+        with open("apm.yml", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            yaml.dump(minimal_config, f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
 
         print(f"  [i]  Created minimal apm.yml for zero-config execution")
 

src/apm_cli/deps/github_downloader.py

@@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@ def download_virtual_file_package(self, dep_ref: DependencyReference, target_pat
 
         # Create target directory structure
         target_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        
+
         # Determine the subdirectory based on file extension
         subdirs = {
             '.prompt.md': 'prompts',
@@ -1649,7 +1649,7 @@ def download_subdirectory_package(self, dep_ref: DependencyReference, target_pat
                     _data = _yaml.safe_load(_f) or {}
                 _data["version"] = short_sha
                 with open(apm_yml_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as _f:
-                    _yaml.dump(_data, _f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+                    _yaml.dump(_data, _f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
 
         # Update progress - complete
         if progress_obj and progress_task_id is not None:
@@ -1950,7 +1950,7 @@ def download_package(
                     _data = _yaml.safe_load(_f) or {}
                 _data["version"] = short_sha
                 with open(apm_yml_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as _f:
-                    _yaml.dump(_data, _f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False)
+                    _yaml.dump(_data, _f, default_flow_style=False, sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True)
 
         # Create and return PackageInfo
         return PackageInfo(
@@ -1976,4 +1976,4 @@ def progress_callback(op_code, cur_count, max_count=None, message=''):
             else:
                 print(f"\r Cloning: {message} ({cur_count})", end='', flush=True)
 
-        return progress_callback
+        return progress_callback

tests/unit/test_init_command.py

@@ -282,6 +282,38 @@ def test_init_auto_detection(self):
             finally:
                 os.chdir(self.original_dir)  # restore CWD before TemporaryDirectory cleanup
 
+
+    def test_init_unicode_author(self):
+        """Test that non-ASCII author names are written as UTF-8, not escaped."""
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:
+            os.chdir(tmp_dir)
+            try:
+
+                import subprocess
+
+                subprocess.run(["git", "init"], capture_output=True, check=True)
+                subprocess.run(
+                    ["git", "config", "user.name", "Pepe Rodríguez"],
+                    capture_output=True,
+                    check=True,
+                )
+
+                result = self.runner.invoke(cli, ["init", "--yes"])
+
+                assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+                # Verify parsed value
+                with open("apm.yml", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                    config = yaml.safe_load(f)
+                    assert config["author"] == "Pepe Rodríguez"
+
+                # Verify raw file contains actual UTF-8, not escaped sequences
+                raw = Path("apm.yml").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+                assert "Rodríguez" in raw
+                assert "\\x" not in raw
+            finally:
+                os.chdir(self.original_dir)  # restore CWD before TemporaryDirectory cleanup
+
     def test_init_does_not_create_skill_md(self):
         """Test that init does not create SKILL.md (only apm.yml)."""
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp_dir:

tests/unit/test_install_command.py

@@ -243,3 +243,53 @@ def test_install_dry_run_with_no_apm_yml_shows_what_would_be_created(
             assert "Would add" in result.output or "Dry run" in result.output
             # apm.yml should still be created (for dry-run to work)
             assert Path("apm.yml").exists()
+
+    @patch("apm_cli.commands.install._validate_package_exists")
+    @patch("apm_cli.commands.install.APM_DEPS_AVAILABLE", True)
+    @patch("apm_cli.commands.install.APMPackage")
+    @patch("apm_cli.commands.install._install_apm_dependencies")
+    def test_install_preserves_unicode_author_on_rewrite(
+        self, mock_install_apm, mock_apm_package, mock_validate
+    ):
+        """Test that install round-trip preserves non-ASCII author as UTF-8."""
+        with self._chdir_tmp():
+            # Create apm.yml with non-ASCII author
+            initial_config = {
+                "name": "test-project",
+                "version": "0.1.0",
+                "author": "Alejandro López Sánchez",
+                "dependencies": {"apm": []},
+            }
+            with open("apm.yml", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                yaml.safe_dump(
+                    initial_config, f, default_flow_style=False,
+                    sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True,
+                )
+
+            mock_validate.return_value = True
+
+            mock_pkg_instance = MagicMock()
+            mock_pkg_instance.get_apm_dependencies.return_value = [
+                MagicMock(repo_url="test/package", reference="main")
+            ]
+            mock_pkg_instance.get_mcp_dependencies.return_value = []
+            mock_apm_package.from_apm_yml.return_value = mock_pkg_instance
+
+            mock_install_apm.return_value = InstallResult(
+                diagnostics=MagicMock(
+                    has_diagnostics=False, has_critical_security=False
+                )
+            )
+
+            result = self.runner.invoke(cli, ["install", "test/package"])
+            assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+            # Verify parsed value preserves Unicode
+            with open("apm.yml", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                config = yaml.safe_load(f)
+                assert config["author"] == "Alejandro López Sánchez"
+
+            # Verify raw file contains actual UTF-8, not escaped sequences
+            raw = Path("apm.yml").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+            assert "López" in raw
+            assert "\\x" not in raw