fix(agents): expand tilde in tool file paths by thomasxm · Pull Request #30866 · openclaw/openclaw

thomasxm · 2026-03-01T18:10:47Z

Summary

path.resolve("~/file.txt") treats ~ as a literal directory name, resolving to <cwd>/~/file.txt instead of /home/user/file.txt
Add expandHomePrefix(..., { home: os.homedir() }) before path.resolve() at all affected tool path resolution points, ensuring ~ always expands to the real OS home (not OPENCLAW_HOME)
Fix a pre-existing Windows CI failure in fs-safe.test.ts where a hardcoded Unix path /tmp/fake-home-test broke on Windows

Path resolution points covered

Tool path	Status
Host write (mkdir, writeFile) non-workspace	Fixed
Host edit (readFile, writeFile, access) non-workspace	Fixed
`toRelativePathInRoot()` workspace boundary (all tools)	Fixed
`resolveWorkdir()` non-sandbox exec/bash workdir	Fixed
`parseSandboxBindMount()` Docker bind mount host path	Fixed
Host read tool	Already handled by upstream `expandPath()`
Sandbox read/write/edit	Already handled by upstream `expandPath()`
Sandbox workdir	Already handled via `assertSandboxPath()`

Files changed

Production (4):

src/agents/pi-tools.read.ts — 1 import + 6 call sites
src/agents/bash-tools.shared.ts — 1 import, tilde expansion + path normalization in resolveWorkdir()
src/agents/sandbox/fs-paths.ts — 1 import + 1 call site in parseSandboxBindMount()
src/infra/fs-safe.test.ts — fix hardcoded Unix path for Windows CI

Test (2):

src/agents/pi-tools.read.tilde-expansion.test.ts — 10 tests (new file)
src/agents/sandbox/fs-paths.test.ts — 1 new test

Test plan

Closes #30669
Related: #30782, #30788, #30744, #30770, #30756, #30753, #30752, #30747

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-01T18:14:01Z

src/agents/bash-tools.shared.ts

 export function resolveWorkdir(workdir: string, warnings: string[]) {
  const current = safeCwd();
  const fallback = current ?? homedir();
+  const expanded = path.resolve(expandHomePrefix(workdir, { home: homedir() }));


Handle missing cwd before resolving relative workdir

If the process current directory has been deleted/unmounted, safeCwd() correctly falls back, but path.resolve(...) now runs before the try block and throws ENOENT for relative workdir values, so this function exits with an uncaught error instead of emitting the warning and using the fallback. This regresses resolveWorkdir in the exact scenario it was already designed to tolerate, and it can break tools.exec requests that pass relative paths after cwd loss.

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Fixed — moved path.resolve(expandHomePrefix(...)) inside the try block so ENOENT from a deleted cwd is caught by the existing catch handler.

greptile-apps · 2026-03-01T18:18:29Z

Greptile Summary

This PR correctly fixes tilde (~) expansion in file paths across the agents codebase. Previously, path.resolve("~/file.txt") treated ~ as a literal directory name. The fix adds expandHomePrefix(..., { home: os.homedir() }) before path.resolve() at all necessary locations.

Key changes:

Host write/edit operations (pi-tools.read.ts): Added tilde expansion to 6 call sites (mkdir, writeFile, readFile, access, and workspace boundary check)
Bash workdir resolution (bash-tools.shared.ts): Enabled resolveWorkdir("~") to correctly return the home directory
Docker bind mounts (sandbox/fs-paths.ts): Host paths in bind specs like ~/mydata:/data:rw now expand correctly
Windows compatibility: Fixed hardcoded Unix path in test that broke Windows CI

Implementation quality:

Consistent pattern across all changes
Comprehensive test coverage (10 new tests covering all code paths)
Handles both Unix (~/) and Windows (~\) path separators via regex /^~(?=$|[\\/])/
Workspace boundary checks correctly applied after tilde expansion
Explicitly uses os.homedir() instead of OPENCLAW_HOME as intended

Confidence Score: 5/5

This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk
The implementation is correct, well-tested, and follows a consistent pattern. All path resolution points are properly covered, workspace security boundaries work correctly with expanded paths, and comprehensive tests verify the behavior across different scenarios including edge cases. The Windows CI fix addresses a real platform compatibility issue. No logical errors or security concerns identified.
No files require special attention

_{Last reviewed commit: fe73537}

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

steipete · 2026-03-02T23:50:53Z

Thanks for the PR! Multiple PRs address the same fix. Keeping #30431 as the earliest submission. Closing to reduce noise. This is an AI-assisted triage review. If we got this wrong, feel free to reopen — happy to revisit.

thomasxm · 2026-03-03T21:18:44Z

@steipete Thanks for the note — reopening as #33501 (force-push during rebase prevented reopening this one).

This PR is not a duplicate of #30431. The two PRs have significantly different scope:

#30431 touches 2 files and fixes tilde expansion in one location: normalizeToolParams(). This handles the path parameter for read/write/edit tool inputs.

This PR (#30866, now #33501) touches 6 files and fixes 5 distinct path resolution points, three of which are completely independent of normalizeToolParams and would remain broken with only #30431 merged:

writeHostFile() — the shared host write helper calls path.resolve() directly without tilde expansion. normalizeToolParams doesn't help here because writeHostFile receives the path after it's already been resolved through a different code path.
resolveWorkdir() in bash-tools.shared.ts — the working directory for exec/bash tools bypasses normalizeToolParams entirely. Running cd ~/projects would resolve to <cwd>/~/projects instead of /home/user/projects.
parseSandboxBindMount() in sandbox/fs-paths.ts — Docker bind mount specs like ~/mydata:/data:rw are parsed in a completely separate code path. The host path portion would remain a literal ~/mydata.

Additionally, this PR includes 11 test cases vs 1 in #30431, and fixes a pre-existing Windows CI failure where a hardcoded /tmp/fake-home-test path broke on Windows (replaced with os.tmpdir()).

See the detailed comparison table in #33501.

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

chatgpt-codex-connector bot reviewed Mar 1, 2026

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claw-bft mentioned this pull request Mar 1, 2026

edit tool fails to resolve absolute paths outside workspace #30874

Closed

thomasxm force-pushed the fix/tool-path-tilde-expansion branch from fe73537 to 991d782 Compare March 1, 2026 18:24

steipete closed this Mar 2, 2026

thomasxm mentioned this pull request Mar 3, 2026

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

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

fix(agents): expand tilde in tool file paths#30866
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thomasxm:fix/tool-path-tilde-expansion

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thomasxm commented Mar 1, 2026

Summary

Path resolution points covered

Files changed

Test plan

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Confidence Score: 5/5

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