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merged 2 commits into from
Oct 27, 2025
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🤖 Add educational note when bash commands use cd #444

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34df6b6
🤖 Add educational note when bash commands use cd
ammar-agent Oct 27, 2025
84ae7bb
Fix prettier formatting
ammar-agent Oct 27, 2025
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1 change: 0 additions & 1 deletion src/runtime/SSHRuntime.ts
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -317,7 +317,6 @@ export class SSHRuntime implements Runtime {
isDirectory: fileType === "directory",
};
}

normalizePath(targetPath: string, basePath: string): string {
// For SSH, handle paths in a POSIX-like manner without accessing the remote filesystem
const target = targetPath.trim();
Expand Down
188 changes: 13 additions & 175 deletions src/services/tools/bash.test.ts
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Expand Up @@ -697,95 +697,6 @@ describe("bash tool", () => {
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd to working directory with &&", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;
const cwd = process.cwd();

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: `cd ${cwd} && echo test`,
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
expect(result.error).toContain("already runs in");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd to working directory with semicolon", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;
const cwd = process.cwd();

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: `cd ${cwd}; echo test`,
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd with relative path (.)", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd . && echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd with quoted path", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;
const cwd = process.cwd();

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: `cd '${cwd}' && echo test`,
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should allow cd to a different directory", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd /tmp && pwd",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(true);
if (result.success) {
expect(result.output).toContain("/tmp");
}
});

it("should allow commands that don't start with cd", async () => {
using testEnv = createTestBashTool();
const tool = testEnv.tool;
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1261,112 +1172,39 @@ describe("SSH runtime redundant cd detection", () => {
};
}

it("should reject redundant cd to absolute path on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "/home/user/project";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: `cd ${remoteCwd} && echo test`,
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
expect(result.error).toContain("already runs in");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd with relative path (.) on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "/home/user/project";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd . && echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd with tilde path on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "~/project";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd ~/project && echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should reject redundant cd with single tilde on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "~";
it("should add educational note when command starts with cd", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "~/workspace/project/branch";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd ~ && echo test",
script: "cd ~/workspace/project/branch && echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
// Command should execute (not blocked)
// But should include a note about cd behavior
if (result.success && "note" in result) {
expect(result.note).toContain("bash command starts in");
expect(result.note).toContain("do not persist");
}
});

it("should handle trailing slashes in path comparison on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "/home/user/project";
it("should not add note when command does not start with cd", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "~/workspace/project/branch";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd /home/user/project/ && echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
});

it("should handle cwd with trailing slash on SSH runtime", async () => {
const remoteCwd = "/home/user/project/";
using testEnv = createTestBashToolWithSSH(remoteCwd);
const tool = testEnv.tool;

const args: BashToolArgs = {
script: "cd /home/user/project && echo test",
script: "echo test",
timeout_secs: 5,
};

const result = (await tool.execute!(args, mockToolCallOptions)) as BashToolResult;

expect(result.success).toBe(false);
if (!result.success) {
expect(result.error).toContain("Redundant cd");
}
// Should not have a note field
expect(result).not.toHaveProperty("note");
});
});
27 changes: 7 additions & 20 deletions src/services/tools/bash.ts
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -76,26 +76,11 @@ export const createBashTool: ToolFactory = (config: ToolConfiguration) => {
let displayTruncated = false; // Hit 16KB display limit
let fileTruncated = false; // Hit 100KB file limit

// Detect redundant cd to working directory
// Delegate path normalization to the runtime for proper handling of local vs remote paths
const cdPattern = /^\s*cd\s+['"]?([^'";\\&|]+)['"]?\s*[;&|]/;
const match = cdPattern.exec(script);
if (match) {
const targetPath = match[1].trim();

// Use runtime's normalizePath method to handle path comparison correctly
const normalizedTarget = config.runtime.normalizePath(targetPath, config.cwd);
const normalizedCwd = config.runtime.normalizePath(".", config.cwd);

if (normalizedTarget === normalizedCwd) {
return {
success: false,
error: `Redundant cd to working directory detected. The tool already runs in ${config.cwd} - no cd needed. Remove the 'cd ${targetPath}' prefix.`,
exitCode: -1,
wall_duration_ms: 0,
};
}
}
// Detect if command starts with cd - we'll add an educational note for the agent
const scriptStartsWithCd = /^\s*cd\s/.test(script);
const cdNote = scriptStartsWithCd
? `Note: Each bash command starts in ${config.cwd}. Directory changes (cd) do not persist between commands.`
: undefined;

// Execute using runtime interface (works for both local and SSH)
const execStream = await config.runtime.exec(script, {
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -392,6 +377,7 @@ export const createBashTool: ToolFactory = (config: ToolConfiguration) => {
output,
exitCode: 0,
wall_duration_ms,
...(cdNote && { note: cdNote }),
truncated: {
reason: overflowReason ?? "unknown reason",
totalLines: lines.length,
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -476,6 +462,7 @@ File will be automatically cleaned up when stream ends.`;
output: lines.join("\n"),
exitCode: 0,
wall_duration_ms,
...(cdNote && { note: cdNote }),
});
} else {
resolveOnce({
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2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions src/types/tools.ts
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Expand Up @@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export type BashToolResult =
success: true;
output: string;
exitCode: 0;
note?: string; // Agent-only message (not displayed in UI)
truncated?: {
reason: string;
totalLines: number;
Expand All @@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ export type BashToolResult =
output?: string;
exitCode: number;
error: string;
note?: string; // Agent-only message (not displayed in UI)
truncated?: {
reason: string;
totalLines: number;
Expand Down