Fix issues found by the upgraded golangci-lint:
- wsl_v5: add required whitespace in CLI files
- staticcheck SA4006: replace new(var.Field) with &localVar
pattern since staticcheck does not recognize Go 1.26
new(value) as a use of the variable
- staticcheck SA5011: use t.Fatal instead of t.Error for
nil guard checks so execution stops
- unused: remove dead ptrTo helper function