Warp agent fails multiple ways in WSL #7380
Description
Pre-submit Checks
- I have searched Warp bugs and there are no duplicates
- I have searched Warp known issues page and my issue is not there
- I have an issue with AI and have included the debugging ID (Optional, but helps expedite the AI quality fix). Debugging ID intructions
- I have technical issue and have included the logs (optional, but helps expedite the bug fix). Log intructions
Describe the bug
Warp agent doesn't work with WSL file system.
Firstly, it doesn't index repo. This is an known issue at #6744.
Secondly, WARP.md rules doesn't work in WSL. I have WARP.md at the root of repo. When I open Warp AI Rules panel, it lists nothing. If I manually click Initialize Project, it errors:
cd "\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>"
bash: cd: \wsl$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>: No such file or directory
Most importantly, Warp agent seems always passes the wrong arguments to the file tools in WSL. Especially at its planning stage, the agent fires a lot of file searches with wrong path arguments. I am not 100% sure if this is just a tool call display issue, or the paths are actually always wrong. But I see it wastes a lot of context window and time on every session start. I believe it also degrades the agent's performance. 5 out of 10 times, the plan agent seems not to even successfully read a single file and then it has to hallucinate the whole plan.
Example logs from the agent using file search, note the paths are obviously wrong.
Finding files that match the following patterns in /home/<usr>/repos/<repo>
- docs/<file>.md
- docs/<file>.md
- docs/<file>.md
- docs/<file>.md
- docs/<file>.md
Finding files that match the following patterns in /home/<usr>/repos/<repo>
- docs/*.md
- docs/*/*.md
Finding files that match *.md in /home/<usr>/repos/<repo>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>.md
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>.md
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>.md
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>.md
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>.md
To reproduce
Steps to reproduce
- in wsl bash
- clone any repo
- cd repo
- create a WARP.md with simple hello world rules.
- prompt anything with reference to an existing file in the repo. I have tried both relative path and absolute path.
Expected behavior
Expect: Warp agent able to read the reference file and follow the rule to hello world.
Screenshots, videos, and logs
Actual: Warp agent waste context, request, and time on searching files with wrong path arguments. Sometimes it finds the file at the end, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't find the file, it still hallucinates a plan even though it never read the file. It doesn't know there are rules, so that fails to hello world.
Example logs from the agent using file search, note the paths are obviously wrong.
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
/home/<usr>/repos/<repo>/\\WSL$\Ubuntu\home\<usr>\repos\<repo>\docs\<file>
Operating system (OS)
Select an OS
Operating system and version
10.0.26100
Shell Version
5.1.16(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
Current Warp version
v0.2025.09.03.08.11.stable_02
Regression
No, this bug or issue has existed throughout my experience using Warp
Recent working Warp date
No response
Additional context
If I am using Warp wrong, please let me know and ignore the following.
I paid for my Turbo subscription yesterday. After wasting a day setting up and attempting to fix the agent, I am now very disappointed.
Later, I found out the repo context issue had existed for months in WSL. This is a false advertisement from the Warp official website listing agent abilities and Windows support. I will go back to Claude Code. Please let me know where I can file a refund request.
Does this block you from using Warp daily?
Yes, this issue prevents me from using Warp daily.
Is this an issue only in Warp?
Yes, I confirmed that this only happens in Warp, not other terminals.
Warp Internal (ignore): linear-label:b9d78064-c89e-4973-b153-5178a31ee54e
None