fix(extensions): start fresh on a non-UTF-8 extension registry

src/specify_cli/extensions/__init__.py

@@ -641,8 +641,12 @@ def _load(self) -> dict:
             if not isinstance(data.get("extensions"), dict):
                 data["extensions"] = {}
             return data
-        except (json.JSONDecodeError, FileNotFoundError):
-            # Corrupted or missing registry, start fresh
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, UnicodeDecodeError, FileNotFoundError):
+            # Corrupted or missing registry, start fresh. A registry whose
+            # bytes cannot be decoded as UTF-8 is the same corruption class
+            # as malformed JSON — only the exception type differs. OSError is
+            # deliberately not caught: the data may be intact on disk, and
+            # starting fresh would let a later _save() wipe it.
             return {"schema_version": self.SCHEMA_VERSION, "extensions": {}}
 
     def _save(self):

tests/test_extensions.py

@@ -1241,6 +1241,28 @@ def test_list_returns_empty_dict_for_corrupted_registry(self, temp_dir):
         result = registry.list()
         assert result == {}
 
+    def test_load_starts_fresh_for_non_utf8_registry(self, temp_dir):
+        """A registry file with undecodable bytes must start fresh, not raise.
+
+        ``_load()`` documents "Corrupted or missing registry, start fresh" and
+        already treats malformed JSON that way, but a registry whose *bytes*
+        cannot be decoded as UTF-8 raised a raw ``UnicodeDecodeError`` from the
+        same boundary — the same corruption class reaching a different
+        exception type.
+        """
+        extensions_dir = temp_dir / "extensions"
+        extensions_dir.mkdir()
+        (extensions_dir / ExtensionRegistry.REGISTRY_FILE).write_bytes(
+            b"\xff\xfe not utf-8 \xc3\x28"
+        )
+
+        registry = ExtensionRegistry(extensions_dir)
+
+        assert registry.data == {
+            "schema_version": ExtensionRegistry.SCHEMA_VERSION,
+            "extensions": {},
+        }
+
 
 # ===== ExtensionManager Tests =====