fix(workspace): name a workspace by its resolved path by ningmao-hlyz · Pull Request #1798 · Agent-Field/CodeAF

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-09T05:44:39Z

What changed

A folder reached through a symlink became two projects, two conversation
histories and two engines. Both doors where a person's path becomes a key now
resolve symlinks with filepath.EvalSymlinks before keying:

engineWorkspace (cmd/codeaf/engine.go) — the resolver every engine
command goes through (--daemon, --status, --stop) and the source of
the host's workspace name. It stopped at filepath.Clean, so
sha256(Clean(...)) in enginehost.where minted one host directory per
spelling: --status <link> missed the engine started at <dir>.
/project (internal/tui3/projectcmd.go) — the pin stored the raw typed
spelling, so home keyed the folder under the alias while a launch from the
resolved path (already canonicalized by v3OpenTarget) keyed it under the
target: two project rows, one folder.

Regression test: cmd/codeaf/engine_symlink_test.go drives a symlink through
engineWorkspace and asserts both spellings land on the same directory, and
that a plain path still resolves to itself.

Changelog entry: docs/rules/changelog.md names the entry for its pull
request, and the number exists only once the pull request does — so it
arrives in the next push as
docs/changes/unreleased/<this-pr>-symlink-workspace-keys.md
(kind: fixed, surface: [engine, workspace]). The first red on check
is that workflow, not a mistake.

How it was checked

go build ./cmd/codeaf ./internal/tui3 — exit 0 (go1.26.5).
go test ./cmd/codeaf -run TestEngineWorkspace -count=1 -v — both tests
pass: TestEngineWorkspaceResolvesSymlink,
TestEngineWorkspaceKeepsNonSymlinkPathUnchanged (ok … 2.434s). To run
this on Windows the other cmd/codeaf test files were moved aside for the
run and put back — see the limitation below.
GOOS=linux go vet ./cmd/codeaf ./internal/tui3 — exit 0, the platform CI
runs, so every test file (including the added one) typechecks there.
gofmt on the committed blobs — clean (engine.go, projectcmd.go,
engine_symlink_test.go).
Reproduction at base 8761488a: a stdlib probe mirroring enginehost.where
showed sha256(Clean(<link>)) ≠ sha256(Clean(<real>)) — two spellings,
two host directories — and that EvalSymlinks collapses both spellings to
one host directory.

Honest limitation: cmd/codeaf's test package does not build on Windows at
all — carried_child_test.go uses fakeFolderProgram, which lives behind
//go:build !windows; the identical failure exists at base 8761488a. So
the full suite cannot run on my Windows checkout and defers to CI on Linux
(where GOOS=linux go vet passes).

Checklist

A change entry — arrives in the next push, named for this pull request
(the number does not exist until the pull request does; see
docs/rules/changelog.md).
The manual knows about it — no slash command, key, tool, default, limit
or refusal moved (keying fix only), so internal/manual/chat/ is
unchanged.
No new line in .github/known-red.txt.
Only my own paths are staged — cmd/codeaf/engine.go,
cmd/codeaf/engine_symlink_test.go, internal/tui3/projectcmd.go.

CLAassistant · 2026-10-09T05:44:48Z

All committers have signed the CLA.

santoshkumarradha · 2026-10-09T05:45:09Z

Hey, thanks for the PR. Could you sign the CLA when you get a chance so we can review it?

…engine (Agent-Field#1798)

A folder reached through a symlink became two projects, two conversation histories and two engines: engineWorkspace and /project stopped at filepath.Clean, so each spelling hashed to its own enginehost host directory and its own project row. Resolve symlinks (filepath.EvalSymlinks) at both doors where a person's path becomes a key: engineWorkspace (--daemon/--status/--stop and the host's workspace name) and runProjectCommand (the project pin). Fixes Agent-Field#1761

…engine (Agent-Field#1798)

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-09T16:58:18Z

Hey, thanks for the PR. Could you sign the CLA when you get a chance so we can review it?

done

ZeroPoint95

Hi @ningmao-hlyz, thanks for working on this fix!

I’m requesting changes because resolving the path in only some entry points introduces inconsistent workspace identities.

Resolve the local chat workspace before dialing or spawning. In a non-Git folder reached through a symlink, PWD can preserve the alias. The local surface still hashes that alias, while the daemon now resolves it and listens under a different key. The connection fails and chat falls back to running in the terminal. Please use the same resolved workspace for host lookup, dialing and spawning.
Resolve the default home directory too. engineWorkspace("") returns HOME before reaching the new canonicalization. When HOME is a symlink, omitting --workspace and explicitly passing the same home now select different hosts. Please route the default through the same resolution.
Update the affected tests and cover these entry points. Five existing macOS tests now fail because their fixtures or expectations use unresolved paths, including two failures in make test-laws. Please normalize the fixture paths and expected results, and add symlink regressions for local host startup, default HOME, and typed /project.

Both functional reproductions fail at this head and pass on the base. Builds, vet, changelog validation and packed-manual checks passed. CI is green, but the local laws and race runs expose the failures above; unrelated failures were separately confirmed on the base.

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-13T21:46:13Z

Thanks for the thorough review, and for taking the time to run the repros at this head.

All three points are confirmed as real gaps in my patch:

Local chat hashing the unresolved PWD alias while the daemon listens on the resolved key - agreed, host lookup, dialing and spawning need to share one resolved workspace.
The default HOME path skipping the canonicalization entirely - agreed, engineWorkspace("") needs to go through the same resolution.
The five macOS test failures and missing coverage - I will normalize the fixtures and add symlink regressions for local host startup, default HOME and typed /project.

Working on the fixes now; I will push as incremental commits and follow up here with the new SHA once all three points are addressed.

Every identity question in this package — host lookup, dial, spawn, lock, status, stop — funnels through where, so where is the one place a symlinked spelling must resolve. A surface that reached the folder through a link and a daemon named by the resolved path hashed to two host directories, and the launch spent its wait failing to meet (Agent-Field#1761). A path that does not resolve — a workspace not on disk yet, a test's imagined directory — keeps its spelling.

engineWorkspace("") returned home without the resolution a typed home goes through, so a home behind a symlink keyed two hosts depending on whether --workspace was omitted or spelled out (Agent-Field#1761). The default now walks the same door. And the launch-side regression: a surface that dials through a symlinked spelling must meet the host standing at the folder it reaches.

A pin names the folder the link reaches, not the spelling that was typed — the typed-path half of Agent-Field#1761's regression, beside the daemon and host halves already on this branch.

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-13T22:11:09Z

All three points are addressed at d26cae9, pushed as three incremental commits on top of the dev merge.

Local chat hashing the alias. The split is gone at the identity layer rather than at any entry point: every host question in internal/enginehost - lookup, dial, spawn, lock, status, stop - funnels through one place, and that place now resolves the spelling before it hashes. A surface dialing through a symlink and a daemon named by the resolved path can no longer build two host directories. Regression: a host standing at the folder answers a dial that arrives through the link (cmd/codeaf), and the two spellings get one socket and one lock (internal/enginehost).
The default home. engineWorkspace("") walks the same resolution a typed home does now, so omitting --workspace and naming the same home cannot key two hosts. Regression covers exactly that pair.
The five macOS failures. I believe they share the same root as point 1 rather than being fixture bugs: the tests hand one temp-directory spelling to the child they spawn and compute the socket from the same unresolved string themselves, so the child daemon (which resolves through engineWorkspace) listened one key away from where the test attached. The identity unification removes that split for every such test, and I could not run macOS locally to verify - could you re-run make test-laws and the race run at this SHA? If any failure survives, it is a genuine fixture mismatch and I will fix those files separately.

Also added the typed /project regression the review asked for (internal/tui3). Builds, gofmt, GOOS=linux vet and the touched suites pass here; the full cmd/codeaf suite still defers to Linux CI for the same Windows limitations stated in the PR description.

The surface's own answer — v3Workspace — minted the session bucket and the tools root from whatever spelling the terminal walked in with, so on the in-process doors one folder reached through a symlink was still a second project beside the same folder named by its resolved path. The review of Agent-Field#1798 caught the host half of that split; this closes the surface half the same way, at the one place a project key is minted.

ProjectKey's own doc calls the fallback "the canonical path's hash", but filepath.Abs canonicalizes nothing about links — a folder reached through a symlink keyed two memory projects (Agent-Field#1761). EvalSymlinks after Abs, with the absolute spelling kept when the path does not resolve.

The entry described the engineWorkspace door alone. The review pass that followed spread the resolution across the host identity, the default home, the surface's project key and the memory path fallback — the entry says so, because a memory that says "fixed at engineWorkspace" would send the next reader looking for one door and finding four.

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-13T22:38:50Z

A second pass over the identity question before you re-run the suites, and it caught two doors the first round left split - both now resolved at ac09e71.

The surface's own project key. v3Workspace minted the session bucket and the tools root from whatever spelling the terminal walked in with, so on the in-process doors (--once, --no-host, the fallback road) one folder reached through a symlink was still a second project beside the same folder named by its resolved path - the exact "two histories" complaint of workspace: a folder reached through a symlink becomes two projects and two engines #1761, one layer up. The answer now resolves at that one mint, which also keeps the projects panel and the drafts keys on one spelling, since everything downstream reads the workspace from here.
Memory's path fallback. gitidentity.ProjectKey's doc calls its fallback "the canonical path's hash", but filepath.Abs canonicalizes nothing about links - a non-git folder behind a symlink keyed two memory projects. The fallback now resolves, matching what the doc already promised.

Both carry regressions that fail on the previous head and pass here, and the changelog entry now names every door that mints a key instead of just the first one. tui3's full suite, the touched cmd/codeaf suites, gofmt and the changelog check are green here; the Windows-only failures this machine shows are the same set the base shows.

That closes every place a path becomes a key that I could find: engineWorkspace (named and default), enginehost.where, v3Workspace, gitidentity, and the /project pin. If your macOS run still surfaces a fixture mismatch, it will be a genuine one now.

ZeroPoint95 · 2026-10-14T17:24:06Z

Hi @ningmao-hlyz, thanks for the follow-up and the additional fixes!

I rechecked 16643c4ad. The local-dial and default-HOME fixes work, and the environment-status test now passes. Three points still need changes:

Preserve access to engines started by older builds.
The new canonical host hash does not accommodate existing alias-keyed directories. In an upgrade fixture, Held() lists the old engine, but Dial() misses its live socket and Stop() returns false, nil. This also prevents --status-all, --stop-all and stale-host takeover from reaching it. Please preserve lookup and retirement of legacy hosts whose recorded workspace resolves to the same folder.
Preserve resumption of existing conversations.
A spoken conversation stored in the old alias-keyed bucket no longer resumes: v3Workspace → v3ResolveSession selects the canonical bucket and creates a new journal. Please preserve the ability to resume these conversations through compatibility lookup or a targeted migration, and add an upgrade regression test. A comprehensive merge of historical buckets is not required here.
Fix the four remaining macOS fixture failures.
Both hello tests in hostlatest_test.go, the empty-workspace status test in engine_stale_test.go, and the typed /project test in homefate_test.go still fail. The hello fixtures populate unresolved buckets; the status and pin expectations retain unresolved paths. Please normalize these fixtures and expectations while preserving their substantive assertions.

The upgrade reproductions and all four fixture failures fail at this head and pass on the exact base. Builds, vet, packed-manual and changelog checks passed. CI is green, but local laws and race runs still expose these fixture failures; unrelated failures were separately confirmed on dev.

…s host The host directory is named by a hash of the workspace, and once that hash was taken from the resolved spelling (Agent-Field#1761), a directory an older build named by the raw spelling it was handed went dark for every door here: Held reads what was written inside, but Dial, Stop, the status door and the takeover rule ask by key - an upgrade stranded a running engine and the commands that must stop it. A canonical miss is now answered by host directories whose recorded workspace resolves to the same folder, and the canonical error is what the caller still sees when nothing anywhere answers.

… resume Buckets minted before the project key was resolved (Agent-Field#1761) carry the spelling the terminal walked in with, and a launch that reads only the canonical bucket opened a fresh journal beside every conversation a person already had. When the canonical bucket holds nothing spoken, the newest folder in another bucket whose meta.workspace citation resolves to this folder resumes where it lives - no migration, no merge; the canonical key takes over from there.

The two hello fixtures populated a bucket by the raw temporary-directory spelling while the doors they exercise resolve it; the status expectation and the typed /project pin expectation kept the raw spelling too. On macOS, where every temporary root is reached through a link, all four failed. The fixtures and expectations now stand where the current build stands, and their substantive assertions are unchanged.

The entry now says how: host directories an older build named by the raw spelling stay reachable through their recorded workspace, and conversations in buckets minted the same way resume through the workspace their folders cite.

ningmao-hlyz · 2026-10-14T17:59:41Z

All three points are addressed at d214013, four incremental commits on top of your merge.

Legacy hosts. A Dial that misses the canonical key now looks for host directories whose recorded workspace (the place file) resolves to the same folder, so Held's answer and the socket the doors dial are one fact again: --status, --stop, --status-all, --stop-all and the takeover rule all reach an engine the upgrade did not start, and the canonical dial error is what the caller still sees when nothing anywhere answers, so DialStartingHost's retry semantics do not move. Regression: a legacy directory keyed by the raw spelling with a live socket is met by a dial from the resolved folder.
Legacy conversations. When the canonical bucket holds nothing spoken, the newest folder in another bucket whose meta.workspace citation resolves to this folder resumes where it lives - no migration, no merge; the canonical key takes over from there. The same lookup backs the engine's hello key, so a plain hello joins the held conversation instead of booting a second agent onto its journal. Upgrade regression covers both readings, resumption and bucket.
The four fixtures. The two hello fixtures now populate the bucket the current build writes and stand on the resolved spelling; the empty-workspace status expectation and the typed /project pin expectation follow the same resolution. Their substantive assertions are unchanged - the hello-key-to-boot agreement, the none-sentence shape, the pin-lands-and-says-nothing behavior.

Verification here: both new regressions fail on your merge and pass at this head; the full enginehost, tui3 and cmd/codeaf failure sets are byte-identical to your merge's on this machine apart from the four fixtures this commit fixes and one known-flaky walker test; builds, gofmt, GOOS=linux vet and the changelog check are green. The changelog entry now also states the upgrade road, since a session reading "every key resolves" would otherwise not know the old records stay readable.

ningmao-hlyz added a commit to ningmao-hlyz/CodeAF that referenced this pull request Oct 9, 2026

changelog: a folder reached through a symlink is one project and one …

fd94fdf

…engine (Agent-Field#1798)

ningmao-hlyz added 2 commits October 10, 2026 00:50

changelog: a folder reached through a symlink is one project and one …

fa7d438

…engine (Agent-Field#1798)

ningmao-hlyz force-pushed the fix/1761-symlink-workspace-keys branch from fd94fdf to fa7d438 Compare October 9, 2026 16:50

Merge branch 'dev' into fix/1761-symlink-workspace-keys

cb09518

ZeroPoint95 requested changes Oct 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

ningmao-hlyz added 3 commits October 14, 2026 06:09

tui3: the pin regression for a typed /project through a symlink

d26cae9

A pin names the folder the link reaches, not the spelling that was typed — the typed-path half of Agent-Field#1761's regression, beside the daemon and host halves already on this branch.

ningmao-hlyz added 3 commits October 14, 2026 06:38

santoshkumarradha added bug Something the code does that it should not area:session The engine — turns, tasks, the toolbelt, checkpoints sev:serious Wrong or missing behaviour a person meets in ordinary use labels Oct 14, 2026

santoshkumarradha added this to the Reliable agent milestone Oct 14, 2026

Merge branch 'dev' into fix/1761-symlink-workspace-keys

16643c4

ningmao-hlyz added 4 commits October 15, 2026 01:58

changelog: the upgrade keeps what the old key wrote

d214013

The entry now says how: host directories an older build named by the raw spelling stay reachable through their recorded workspace, and conversations in buckets minted the same way resume through the workspace their folders cite.

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fix(workspace): name a workspace by its resolved path - #1798

fix(workspace): name a workspace by its resolved path#1798
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