fix: preserve missing explicit factor rules path

tests/test_factor_rules.py

@@ -100,6 +100,26 @@ class FactorRulesPathTests(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(rules, [])
             self.assertIsNone(loaded_path)
 
+    def test_missing_explicit_rule_path_does_not_fall_back_silently(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            project_dir = Path(tmpdir)
+            examples_dir = project_dir / "examples"
+            examples_dir.mkdir()
+            default_rule_path = examples_dir / "factor_rules.json"
+            default_rule_path.write_text(json.dumps({"rules": [{"name": "Default"}]}), encoding="utf-8")
+            missing_explicit_path = project_dir / "factor_rules.json"
+            missing_explicit_path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+
+            rules, loaded_path = load_factor_rules(
+                {
+                    "project_dir": str(project_dir),
+                    "factor_rules_path": str(missing_explicit_path),
+                }
+            )
+
+            self.assertEqual(rules, [])
+            self.assertEqual(Path(loaded_path), missing_explicit_path.resolve())
+
     def test_invalid_rules_object_raises_value_error(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
             project_dir = Path(tmpdir)

tradingagents/agents/utils/factor_rules.py

@@ -51,7 +51,18 @@ def _candidate_rule_paths(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> List[Path]
 
 
 def load_factor_rules(config: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> Tuple[List[Dict[str, Any]], Optional[str]]:
+    config = config or {}
+    explicit = config.get("factor_rules_path")
+    explicit_path = None
+    if explicit:
+        try:
+            explicit_path = Path(explicit).resolve()
+        except Exception:
+            explicit_path = None
+
     for path in _candidate_rule_paths(config):
+        if explicit_path and path == explicit_path and not path.exists():
+            return [], str(path)
         if not path.exists():
             continue
         with open(path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: