Description

Fix a panic that occurs when Pixi is run from a working directory that no longer exists.

Previously, std::env::current_dir() was called with .expect("Could not retrieve the current directory") in default_channel_config(). If the working directory had been deleted, this would cause Pixi to panic.

This change replaces the .expect() call with a non-panicking fallback:

let cwd = std::env::current_dir()
    .unwrap_or_else(|_| std::path::PathBuf::from("."));
ChannelConfig::default_with_root_dir(cwd)

This prevents the panic and allows Pixi to return a proper CLI error instead of crashing.

Fixes #5639

How Has This Been Tested?

The issue was reproduced using the steps provided in the report:

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
pixi init
pixi task add hello echo
pixi run hello

In another shell:

rm -rf tmp

Back in the original shell:

pixi run hello

Before this change, Pixi would panic. After this change, Pixi exits gracefully with an error message indicating that the current directory cannot be determined.

The project was also built and tested locally:

cargo build
cargo test

Checklist

• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• I have added sufficient tests to cover my changes.
• I have verified that changes that would impact the JSON schema have been made in schema/model.py.