From 750a4ef02effe8c97c374796037ea017a3df47c5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: omsadegaonkar <omsadegaonkar3@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2026 07:00:32 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Feature: Parse reference attributes from --ref in workspace
 add (#20261)

- Removed mutual exclusion check for path and --ref
- Added parsing of --ref to extract name, version, user, channel
- Uses RecipeReference.loads() for robust parsing
- Added clear error message for invalid reference format

fixes #20261
---
 conan/cli/commands/workspace.py               | 16 +++++++-
 .../workspace/test_workspace_ref_parse.py     | 38 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 test/integration/workspace/test_workspace_ref_parse.py

diff --git a/conan/cli/commands/workspace.py b/conan/cli/commands/workspace.py
index f128dd48215..46a7a1f0c37 100644
--- a/conan/cli/commands/workspace.py
+++ b/conan/cli/commands/workspace.py
@@ -97,13 +97,27 @@ def workspace_add(conan_api: ConanAPI, parser, subparser, *args):
         raise ConanException("Do not use both 'path' and '--ref' argument")
     if args.folder and not args.ref:
         raise ConanException("'--folder' requires '--ref'")
+    if args.ref and any((args.name, args.version, args.user, args.channel)):
+        raise ConanException(
+            "Do not use '--ref' together with '--name', '--version', "
+            "'--user' or '--channel' arguments"
+        )
     remotes = conan_api.remotes.list(args.remote) if not args.no_remote else []
     path = args.path
+    name = args.name
+    version = args.version
+    user = args.user
+    channel = args.channel
     if args.ref:
+        ref = RecipeReference.loads(args.ref)
         cwd, folder = _resolve_ws_relative_folder(conan_api, args.folder)
         path = conan_api.workspace.open(args.ref, remotes, cwd=cwd, folder=folder)
+        name = ref.name
+        version = ref.version
+        user = ref.user
+        channel = ref.channel
     ref = conan_api.workspace.add(path,
-                                  args.name, args.version, args.user, args.channel,
+                                  name, version, user, channel,
                                   args.output_folder, remotes=remotes)
     ConanOutput().success("Reference '{}' added to workspace".format(ref))
 
diff --git a/test/integration/workspace/test_workspace_ref_parse.py b/test/integration/workspace/test_workspace_ref_parse.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e1eef13f6c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/workspace/test_workspace_ref_parse.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import textwrap
+
+from conan.test.utils.tools import TestClient
+
+
+def test_workspace_add_ref_parses_and_persists():
+    client = TestClient()
+    conanfile = textwrap.dedent("""
+        from conan import ConanFile
+
+        class MyPkg(ConanFile):
+            name = "mypkg"
+            version = "1.0"
+    """)
+    client.save({"conanfile.py": conanfile})
+    client.run("export . --user=company")
+    client.run("workspace init .")
+    client.run("workspace add --ref=mypkg/1.0@company")
+    client.run("workspace info")
+    assert "mypkg/1.0@company" in client.out
+
+
+def test_workspace_add_ref_rejects_individual_reference_arguments():
+    client = TestClient()
+    client.run("workspace init .")
+    client.run(
+        "workspace add --ref=mypkg/1.0@company --version=2.0",
+        assert_error=True
+    )
+    assert "Do not use '--ref' together with '--name', '--version', " \
+           "'--user' or '--channel' arguments" in client.out
+
+
+def test_workspace_add_ref_rejects_invalid_reference():
+    client = TestClient()
+    client.run("workspace init .")
+    client.run("workspace add --ref=invalid-format", assert_error=True)
+    assert "not a valid recipe reference" in client.out