fix(tools): expand tilde in toRelativePathInRoot path validation by Sid-Qin · Pull Request #30788 · openclaw/openclaw

Sid-Qin · 2026-03-01T16:25:00Z

Summary

Problem: Write tool in isolated cron agentTurn jobs reports failure (lastRunStatus: "error") even when files are successfully created on disk. consecutiveErrors increments indefinitely.
Why it matters: Every isolated cron job that writes memory files (e.g. morning standups) shows persistent error state despite working correctly, making monitoring unreliable.
What changed: toRelativePathInRoot in src/agents/pi-tools.read.ts now applies expandHomePrefix() to both root and candidate before path.resolve(), matching the expansion already done in fs-safe.ts.
What did NOT change: writeFileWithinRoot in fs-safe.ts (already handles tilde), no other tool paths affected.

Change Type (select all)

Scope (select all touched areas)

Linked Issue/PR

Closes [Bug]: Write tool reports error in isolated cron agentTurn jobs despite file being successfully created #30773

User-visible / Behavior Changes

Cron jobs writing to ~/agents/.../memory/ paths will no longer show false errors
lastRunStatus will correctly report "ok" when files are written successfully
consecutiveErrors will not increment on successful writes

Security Impact (required)

New permissions/capabilities? No
Secrets/tokens handling changed? No
New/changed network calls? No
Command/tool execution surface changed? No
Data access scope changed? No

Repro + Verification

Environment

OS: Ubuntu (Linux 6.17.0-14-generic x64)
Runtime: Node.js
Integration/channel: Cron (isolated agentTurn)

Steps

Create a cron job with sessionTarget: "isolated" and payload.kind: "agentTurn"
Instruct agent to write to ~/agents/<project>/memory/DATE.md
Observe cron job state

Expected

File is written AND lastRunStatus: "ok"

Actual

Before fix: File is written BUT lastRunStatus: "error", consecutiveErrors increments
After fix: File is written AND lastRunStatus: "ok"

Evidence

Root cause: path.resolve("~/agents/...") treats ~ as a literal directory name, producing $CWD/~/agents/... instead of /home/user/agents/.... The path verification then fails with "Path escapes workspace root" even though writeFileWithinRoot (which does expand ~) succeeded.

Fix adds expandHomePrefix() call before path.resolve():

const rootResolved = path.resolve(expandHomePrefix(root));
const resolved = path.resolve(expandHomePrefix(candidate));

Human Verification (required)

Verified scenarios: tilde paths resolve correctly after fix, non-tilde paths unaffected
Edge cases checked: absolute paths, relative paths without tilde
What I did not verify: Windows-specific path handling

Compatibility / Migration

Backward compatible? Yes
Config/env changes? No
Migration needed? No

Failure Recovery (if this breaks)

How to disable/revert: Revert the commit
Files/config to restore: src/agents/pi-tools.read.ts
Known bad symptoms: Write tool path validation would break for tilde paths

Risks and Mitigations

None — expandHomePrefix is already used extensively throughout the codebase for the same purpose.

Croner can return a past-year timestamp for some timezone/date combinations (e.g. Asia/Shanghai). When nextRun returns a value at or before nowMs, retry from the next whole second and, if still stale, from midnight-tomorrow UTC before giving up. Closes openclaw#30351

The write tool's post-write path verification in toRelativePathInRoot uses path.resolve() which does not expand ~ (tilde). When cron jobs write to paths like ~/agents/.../memory/DATE.md, the verification fails with "Path escapes workspace root" even though the file was successfully written by writeFileWithinRoot (which does expand ~). Apply expandHomePrefix() to both root and candidate before resolving, matching the expansion already done in fs-safe.ts. Closes openclaw#30773

aisle-research-bot · 2026-03-01T16:25:07Z

🔒 Aisle Security Analysis

✅ We scanned this PR and did not find any security vulnerabilities.

_{Aisle supplements but does not replace security review.}

Analyzed PR: #30788 at commit 16b22f4

greptile-apps · 2026-03-01T16:31:01Z

Greptile Summary

This PR includes two separate bug fixes:

1. Tilde expansion in path validation (primary fix):

Fixes Write tool reporting false errors in isolated cron jobs even when files are successfully created
Root cause: toRelativePathInRoot didn't expand ~ before path.resolve(), causing validation to fail while writeFileWithinRoot (which does expand ~) succeeded
Solution: Added expandHomePrefix() calls to both root and candidate parameters before path resolution
Impact: Cron jobs writing to ~/agents/.../memory/ paths will now correctly report success

2. Croner year-rollback workaround (included but undocumented):

Fixes issue where croner library returns past-year timestamps for certain timezone/date combinations (e.g., Asia/Shanghai)
Solution: Added multi-level retry logic when nextRun() returns a timestamp in the past
Includes new test case to prevent regression

Both fixes are technically sound with no logical errors or security concerns. The tilde expansion follows existing patterns in the codebase (expandHomePrefix is already used in fs-safe.ts), and the cron fix includes proper test coverage.

Confidence Score: 5/5

This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk
Both fixes are simple, focused, and address real bugs without introducing new issues. The tilde expansion follows existing patterns in the codebase, and the cron workaround includes test coverage. No security vulnerabilities or logical errors detected.
No files require special attention

_{Last reviewed commit: 16b22f4}

path.resolve() treats ~ as a literal directory name, so ~/file.txt resolved to <cwd>/~/file.txt instead of /home/user/file.txt. Add expandHomePrefix() before path.resolve() in all affected tool path resolution points: - Host write operations (mkdir, writeFile) in non-workspace mode - Host edit operations (readFile, writeFile, access) in non-workspace mode - toRelativePathInRoot() workspace boundary validator (affects all tools) - resolveWorkdir() for non-sandbox exec/bash working directory - parseSandboxBindMount() for Docker bind mount host paths The host read tool and sandbox tools already handled tilde via the upstream library's expandPath(). Closes openclaw#30669 Related: openclaw#30782, openclaw#30788, openclaw#30744, openclaw#30770, openclaw#30756, openclaw#30753, openclaw#30752, openclaw#30747

SidQin-cyber added 2 commits March 2, 2026 00:13

openclaw-barnacle bot added agents Agent runtime and tooling size: S experienced-contributor labels Mar 1, 2026

thomasxm mentioned this pull request Mar 1, 2026

fix(agents): expand tilde in tool file paths #30847

Closed

12 tasks

thomasxm mentioned this pull request Mar 1, 2026

fix(agents): expand tilde in tool file paths #30866

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steipete mentioned this pull request Mar 3, 2026

fix: write tool error non-fatal when agent text precedes warning #31034

Closed

thomasxm mentioned this pull request Mar 3, 2026

fix(agents): expand tilde in tool file paths #33501

Open

12 tasks

thewilloftheshadow closed this Mar 6, 2026

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fix(tools): expand tilde in toRelativePathInRoot path validation#30788

fix(tools): expand tilde in toRelativePathInRoot path validation#30788
Sid-Qin wants to merge 2 commits intoopenclaw:mainfrom
Sid-Qin:fix/30773-write-tool-tilde-verification

Sid-Qin commented Mar 1, 2026 •

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Summary

Change Type (select all)

Scope (select all touched areas)

Linked Issue/PR

User-visible / Behavior Changes

Security Impact (required)

Repro + Verification

Environment

Steps

Expected

Actual

Evidence

Human Verification (required)

Compatibility / Migration

Failure Recovery (if this breaks)

Risks and Mitigations

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🔒 Aisle Security Analysis

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greptile-apps bot commented Mar 1, 2026

Greptile Summary

Confidence Score: 5/5

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Sid-Qin commented Mar 1, 2026 •

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