refactor(x): workspace-context loading gets one trait-gated chokepoint

The workspaceContext trait was consulted separately at every assembly
site before loading agent notes / work dir — a convention each caller
had to re-remember, where a forgotten check either leaks the user's
agent-memory into non-copilot prompts or silently omits it for the
copilot, and neither fails loudly. The loaders move out of the legacy
runtime file into agents/workspace-context.ts, and
loadWorkspaceContext() applies the trait gate INSIDE: both engines now
call it (the resolver keeps its loader test-seams by injecting them
through), so a future assembly site structurally cannot skip the gate.
Tests pin the gate: non-workspace agents get nulls even when the
loaders would yield values.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

apps/x/packages/core/src/agents/runtime.ts

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import { TOOL_ADDITIONS_KEY } from "../application/lib/tool-additions.js";
 import { AskHumanRequestEvent, RunEvent, ToolPermissionMetadata, ToolPermissionRequestEvent } from "@x/shared/dist/runs.js";
 import { BuiltinTools } from "../application/lib/builtin-tools.js";
 import { hasWorkspaceContext, loadAgent } from "./registry.js";
+import { loadWorkspaceContext } from "./workspace-context.js";
 import { isBlocked, extractCommandNames } from "../application/lib/command-executor.js";
 import { getFileAccessAllowList, type FileAccessGrant, type FileAccessOperation } from "../config/security.js";
 import { resolveFilePathForPermission } from "../filesystem/files.js";
@@ -31,14 +32,6 @@ import { captureLlmUsage } from "../analytics/usage.js";
 import { enterUseCase, withUseCase, type UseCase } from "../analytics/use_case.js";
 import { classifyToolPermissions, type AutoPermissionCandidate } from "../security/auto-permission-classifier.js";
 
-const AGENT_NOTES_DIR = path.join(WorkDir, 'knowledge', 'Agent Notes');
-
-// Work directory is scoped per run (per chat). Each run gets its own sidecar
-// config file so setting it in one chat does not leak into others.
-function workDirConfigFile(runId: string): string {
-    return path.join(WorkDir, 'config', `workdir-${runId}.json`);
-}
-
 type ToolPermissionMetadataValue = z.infer<typeof ToolPermissionMetadata>;
 
 function isPathInside(parent: string, child: string): boolean {
@@ -164,71 +157,6 @@ export async function getToolPermissionMetadata(
     };
 }
 
-export function loadUserWorkDir(runId: string): string | null {
-    try {
-        const file = workDirConfigFile(runId);
-        if (!fs.existsSync(file)) return null;
-        const raw = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf-8');
-        const parsed = JSON.parse(raw) as { path?: unknown };
-        const value = typeof parsed.path === 'string' ? parsed.path.trim() : '';
-        return value || null;
-    } catch {
-        return null;
-    }
-}
-
-export function loadAgentNotesContext(): string | null {
-    const sections: string[] = [];
-
-    const userFile = path.join(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, 'user.md');
-    const prefsFile = path.join(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, 'preferences.md');
-
-    try {
-        if (fs.existsSync(userFile)) {
-            const content = fs.readFileSync(userFile, 'utf-8').trim();
-            if (content) {
-                sections.push(`## About the User\nThese are notes you took about the user in previous chats.\n\n${content}`);
-            }
-        }
-    } catch { /* ignore */ }
-
-    try {
-        if (fs.existsSync(prefsFile)) {
-            const content = fs.readFileSync(prefsFile, 'utf-8').trim();
-            if (content) {
-                sections.push(`## User Preferences\nThese are notes you took on their general preferences.\n\n${content}`);
-            }
-        }
-    } catch { /* ignore */ }
-
-    // List other Agent Notes files for on-demand access
-    const otherFiles: string[] = [];
-    const skipFiles = new Set(['user.md', 'preferences.md', 'inbox.md']);
-    try {
-        if (fs.existsSync(AGENT_NOTES_DIR)) {
-            function listMdFiles(dir: string, prefix: string) {
-                for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(dir)) {
-                    const fullPath = path.join(dir, entry);
-                    const stat = fs.statSync(fullPath);
-                    if (stat.isDirectory()) {
-                        listMdFiles(fullPath, `${prefix}${entry}/`);
-                    } else if (entry.endsWith('.md') && !skipFiles.has(`${prefix}${entry}`)) {
-                        otherFiles.push(`${prefix}${entry}`);
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            listMdFiles(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, '');
-        }
-    } catch { /* ignore */ }
-
-    if (otherFiles.length > 0) {
-        sections.push(`## More Specific Preferences\nFor more specific preferences, you can read these files using file-readText. Only read them when relevant to the current task.\n\n${otherFiles.map(f => `- knowledge/Agent Notes/${f}`).join('\n')}`);
-    }
-
-    if (sections.length === 0) return null;
-    return `# Agent Memory\n\n${sections.join('\n\n')}`;
-}
-
 function formatCurrentDateTime(now: Date): string {
     return now.toLocaleString('en-US', {
         weekday: 'long',
@@ -1312,11 +1240,11 @@ export async function* streamAgent({
         loopLogger.log('running llm turn');
         // stream agent response and build message
         const messageBuilder = new StreamStepMessageBuilder();
-        const composeCopilotContext = hasWorkspaceContext(state.agentName);
+        const workspace = loadWorkspaceContext(state.agentName, runId);
         const instructionsWithDateTime = composeSystemInstructions({
             instructions: agent.instructions,
-            agentNotesContext: composeCopilotContext ? loadAgentNotesContext() : null,
+            agentNotesContext: workspace.agentNotesContext,
-            userWorkDir: composeCopilotContext ? loadUserWorkDir(runId) : null,
+            userWorkDir: workspace.userWorkDir,
             voiceInput,
             voiceOutput,
             searchEnabled,

apps/x/packages/core/src/agents/workspace-context.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { loadWorkspaceContext } from "./workspace-context.js";
+
+const loaders = {
+    loadNotes: () => "# Agent Memory\n\nnotes",
+    loadWorkDir: (key: string) => (key === "chat-1" ? "/Users/me/work" : null),
+};
+
+describe("loadWorkspaceContext", () => {
+    it("loads notes and work dir for workspaceContext-trait agents", () => {
+        expect(loadWorkspaceContext("copilot", "chat-1", loaders)).toEqual({
+            agentNotesContext: "# Agent Memory\n\nnotes",
+            userWorkDir: "/Users/me/work",
+        });
+        // rowboatx is the copilot alias.
+        expect(loadWorkspaceContext("rowboatx", "chat-1", loaders).userWorkDir).toBe(
+            "/Users/me/work",
+        );
+    });
+
+    it("returns nulls for non-workspace agents even when the loaders would yield values", () => {
+        // THE gate this module exists for: a caller cannot leak the user's
+        // agent-memory into a background/knowledge agent's prompt by
+        // forgetting a trait check — the check lives here.
+        for (const agentId of ["background-task-agent", "note_creation", "some-user-agent"]) {
+            expect(loadWorkspaceContext(agentId, "chat-1", loaders)).toEqual({
+                agentNotesContext: null,
+                userWorkDir: null,
+            });
+        }
+        expect(loadWorkspaceContext(null, "chat-1", loaders).agentNotesContext).toBeNull();
+        expect(loadWorkspaceContext(undefined, "chat-1", loaders).agentNotesContext).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it("skips the work-dir lookup without a key", () => {
+        expect(loadWorkspaceContext("copilot", null, loaders)).toEqual({
+            agentNotesContext: "# Agent Memory\n\nnotes",
+            userWorkDir: null,
+        });
+    });
+});

apps/x/packages/core/src/agents/workspace-context.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+import fs from "fs";
+import path from "path";
+import { WorkDir } from "../config/config.js";
+import { hasWorkspaceContext } from "./registry.js";
+
+// Workspace context for agent assembly: agent notes (global) and the user's
+// per-chat work directory. loadWorkspaceContext is THE chokepoint — the
+// workspaceContext trait gate lives inside it, so no assembly site can
+// forget the gate and leak the user's agent-memory into a non-workspace
+// agent's prompt (or silently omit it for the copilot). Loaders extracted
+// verbatim from the legacy runtime file.
+
+const AGENT_NOTES_DIR = path.join(WorkDir, 'knowledge', 'Agent Notes');
+
+// Work directory is scoped per run (per chat). Each run gets its own sidecar
+// config file so setting it in one chat does not leak into others.
+function workDirConfigFile(runId: string): string {
+    return path.join(WorkDir, 'config', `workdir-${runId}.json`);
+}
+
+export function loadUserWorkDir(runId: string): string | null {
+    try {
+        const file = workDirConfigFile(runId);
+        if (!fs.existsSync(file)) return null;
+        const raw = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf-8');
+        const parsed = JSON.parse(raw) as { path?: unknown };
+        const value = typeof parsed.path === 'string' ? parsed.path.trim() : '';
+        return value || null;
+    } catch {
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+export function loadAgentNotesContext(): string | null {
+    const sections: string[] = [];
+
+    const userFile = path.join(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, 'user.md');
+    const prefsFile = path.join(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, 'preferences.md');
+
+    try {
+        if (fs.existsSync(userFile)) {
+            const content = fs.readFileSync(userFile, 'utf-8').trim();
+            if (content) {
+                sections.push(`## About the User\nThese are notes you took about the user in previous chats.\n\n${content}`);
+            }
+        }
+    } catch { /* ignore */ }
+
+    try {
+        if (fs.existsSync(prefsFile)) {
+            const content = fs.readFileSync(prefsFile, 'utf-8').trim();
+            if (content) {
+                sections.push(`## User Preferences\nThese are notes you took on their general preferences.\n\n${content}`);
+            }
+        }
+    } catch { /* ignore */ }
+
+    // List other Agent Notes files for on-demand access
+    const otherFiles: string[] = [];
+    const skipFiles = new Set(['user.md', 'preferences.md', 'inbox.md']);
+    try {
+        if (fs.existsSync(AGENT_NOTES_DIR)) {
+            function listMdFiles(dir: string, prefix: string) {
+                for (const entry of fs.readdirSync(dir)) {
+                    const fullPath = path.join(dir, entry);
+                    const stat = fs.statSync(fullPath);
+                    if (stat.isDirectory()) {
+                        listMdFiles(fullPath, `${prefix}${entry}/`);
+                    } else if (entry.endsWith('.md') && !skipFiles.has(`${prefix}${entry}`)) {
+                        otherFiles.push(`${prefix}${entry}`);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            listMdFiles(AGENT_NOTES_DIR, '');
+        }
+    } catch { /* ignore */ }
+
+    if (otherFiles.length > 0) {
+        sections.push(`## More Specific Preferences\nFor more specific preferences, you can read these files using file-readText. Only read them when relevant to the current task.\n\n${otherFiles.map(f => `- knowledge/Agent Notes/${f}`).join('\n')}`);
+    }
+
+    if (sections.length === 0) return null;
+    return `# Agent Memory\n\n${sections.join('\n\n')}`;
+}
+
+export interface WorkspaceContext {
+    agentNotesContext: string | null;
+    userWorkDir: string | null;
+}
+
+const NO_WORKSPACE: WorkspaceContext = {
+    agentNotesContext: null,
+    userWorkDir: null,
+};
+
+// workDirKey is the per-chat work-directory sidecar key: the composition's
+// workDirId on the turn runtime, the runId on the legacy engine.
+export function loadWorkspaceContext(
+    agentId: string | null | undefined,
+    workDirKey: string | null | undefined,
+    loaders: {
+        loadNotes?: typeof loadAgentNotesContext;
+        loadWorkDir?: typeof loadUserWorkDir;
+    } = {},
+): WorkspaceContext {
+    if (!hasWorkspaceContext(agentId)) {
+        return NO_WORKSPACE;
+    }
+    const loadNotes = loaders.loadNotes ?? loadAgentNotesContext;
+    const loadWorkDir = loaders.loadWorkDir ?? loadUserWorkDir;
+    return {
+        agentNotesContext: loadNotes(),
+        userWorkDir: workDirKey ? loadWorkDir(workDirKey) : null,
+    };
+}

apps/x/packages/core/src/turns/bridges/real-agent-resolver.ts

@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ import { composeSystemInstructions } from "../../agents/compose-instructions.js"
 import {
     loadAgentNotesContext,
     loadUserWorkDir,
-} from "../../agents/runtime.js";
+    loadWorkspaceContext,
+} from "../../agents/workspace-context.js";
 import { hasWorkspaceContext, loadAgent } from "../../agents/registry.js";
 import { BuiltinTools } from "../../application/lib/builtin-tools.js";
 import { skillToolNames } from "../../application/assistant/skills/index.js";
@@ -126,14 +127,16 @@ export class RealAgentResolver {
             ? parsed.data
             : CompositionOverrides.parse({});
         const { workDirId, subagent, activeSkills, ...modeFlags } = composition;
-        // Agent notes and work-dir context are scoped to agents with the
+        // The workspaceContext trait gate lives INSIDE loadWorkspaceContext
-        // workspaceContext trait (the copilot), per the agent registry.
+        // (agents/workspace-context.ts) — no assembly site can forget it.
+        const workspace = loadWorkspaceContext(requested.agentId, workDirId, {
+            loadNotes: this.loadNotes,
+            loadWorkDir: this.loadWorkDir,
+        });
         const copilotContext = hasWorkspaceContext(requested.agentId);
         const systemPrompt = composeSystemInstructions({
             instructions: agent.instructions,
-            agentNotesContext: copilotContext ? this.loadNotes() : null,
+            ...workspace,
-            userWorkDir:
-                copilotContext && workDirId ? this.loadWorkDir(workDirId) : null,
             ...modeFlags,
         });