fix(state): stop persisting project_root — prevents leaking absolute paths into committable state

[gbrbks]

Summary

intent_layer.py::save-run-context was persisting the absolute project path into .archie/deep_scan_state.json under run_context.project_root. Real example from the openmeter project:

"run_context": {
  "project_root": "/Users/hamutarto/DEV/gbr/openmeter",
  ...
}

Users who commit .archie/ (several do, and we encourage it for reproducible blueprints across a team) were silently publishing machine-specific info — user home directories, internal repo layouts, etc.

Audit confirmed this was the ONLY such leak in Archie's output files — blueprint.json, findings.json, scan.json, enrichments/, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and .claude/rules/ are all clean.

The fix

1. save-run-context no longer writes project_root. The flag is silently accepted for backward-compat with older installs, but the value is discarded.

2. Defensive cleanup on next write. Any pre-existing project_root in the state file gets scrubbed the next time save-run-context runs. Users with legacy leaked values recover automatically — no manual git checkout or file editing required.

3. Resume Prelude sets PROJECT_ROOT="$PWD" directly. The field doesn't need to be persisted because the Resume Prelude is always called from inside /archie-deep-scan, and the state file itself lives under <root>/.archie/deep_scan_state.json — which means to even find the state, the caller has to already be at (or have access to) the root. If $PWD differs from where .archie/ lives (user invoked /archie-deep-scan --continue from a subdirectory), the inspect call below returns null, LAST=0, and the Resume Prelude falls through to a fresh Phase 0 — safe default, no corruption.

4. Doc text made honest about the CWD assumption. It's a convention (how Claude Code is typically invoked), not a hard contract. Symlinked .archie/ directories resolve correctly because $PWD/.archie/* follows symlinks on read.

5. Removed the --project-root "$PWD" line from the save-run-context call in archie-deep-scan.md Step 0.75.

Tests — 5 new

tests/test_intent_layer_run_context.py:

• test_save_run_context_does_not_persist_project_root — pass --project-root /Users/someone/..., assert the value does NOT land in the file. Core privacy guarantee.
• test_save_run_context_persists_expected_fields — scope, intent_layer, scan_mode, monorepo_type, start_step, workspaces still round-trip correctly.
• test_save_run_context_scrubs_legacy_project_root_from_existing_state — pre-existing file with a leaked project_root gets cleaned on next write.
• test_save_run_context_accepts_project_root_without_failing — backward-compat: the flag is still accepted without error.
• test_save_run_context_does_not_leak_any_machine_path — general guard: scan the output file for any substring matching /Users/, /home/, /root/, /var/folders/, C:\\Users\\.

All 5 pass. Full regression suite (70 tests) clean.

Validated on openmeter

Before (the file user actually had on disk):

"run_context": {
  "project_root": "/Users/hamutarto/DEV/gbr/openmeter",
  "scope": "whole",
  ...
}

After syncing the fixed intent_layer.py and running save-run-context:

"run_context": {
  "scope": "whole",
  "intent_layer": "no",
  "scan_mode": "full",
  "monorepo_type": "none",
  "start_step": 1,
  "workspaces": []
}

Broad scan confirmed zero occurrences of gbr, /Users/, /home/, /root/, or /var/folders/ anywhere in openmeter's .archie/, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or .claude/rules/ after the scrub. The committable state is now fully machine-agnostic.

Test plan

• python3 -m pytest tests/test_intent_layer_run_context.py -v → 5 passed
• python3 -m pytest tests/ test_intent_layer_* test_upload.py test_share_setup.py test_renderer_merge.py -q → 70 passed (no regressions)
• python3 scripts/verify_sync.py → 20 scripts, 5 commands in sync
• End-to-end on openmeter: fix synced, state scrubbed, grep /Users\|/home\|gbr returns zero hits

Release

Ship as 2.4.4 — patch bump. Privacy / correctness fix with zero functional regression. Backward compatible for anyone passing --project-root (silently accepted + discarded).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
archie	Ready	Preview, Comment	Apr 24, 2026 6:59pm