deepseek-harness/docs/core-data-structures/filesystem.md

# Filesystem

The filesystem stack is split across four packages: a provider seam ([dsh-fs](../../packages/fs/fs), `ctx.fs`, text IO + atomic mutation primitives whose version guard is optional), a local implementation ([dsh-fs-local](../../packages/fs/fs-local), local disk), a policy plugin ([dsh-fs-policy](../../packages/fs/fs-policy), observed-state + read-before-edit + version-guarded write/edit, contributed through the `fs/*` event gate — NO service), and a consumer ([dsh-tool-fs](../../packages/fs/tool-fs), the model-facing `read`/`write`/`edit` tools, which is also the EXECUTOR — it reads/writes/edits through `ctx.fs` directly and owns read windowing). Filesystem access is an optional capability, not part of the agent-loop spine, so its vocabulary lives here rather than in [core.md](core.md). A sandboxed, remote, virtual, or project-scoped backend can implement the same `FileSystem` service without changing the policy plugin or the tool schemas.

The model is **additive, not subtractive**: `ctx.fs` alone is a complete, unconstrained text-storage seam (`write` unconditionally creates-or-overwrites, `edit` unconditionally replaces literal text). `dsh-fs-policy` is a plugin that *adds* policy on top by deciding the `fs/*` waterfalls; removing it leaves the bare provider rather than breaking the tool, because the tool is not method-coupled to the policy. A deployment that loads `dsh-tool-fs` is expected to also load `dsh-fs-policy` so the default behavior is read-before-write/edit.

Provider source: [`packages/fs/fs/src/types.ts`](../../packages/fs/fs/src/types.ts) and [`packages/fs/fs/src/index.ts`](../../packages/fs/fs/src/index.ts). Policy source: [`packages/fs/fs-policy/src/types.ts`](../../packages/fs/fs-policy/src/types.ts). Read-rendering source: [`packages/fs/tool-fs/src/read-render.ts`](../../packages/fs/tool-fs/src/read-render.ts).

## Target identity and metadata (provider seam)

Every operation resolves a user-supplied path to an opaque backend target first. Consumers may display `displayPath`, but must not parse `targetKey` (a branded opaque id) or assume it is a local absolute path.

```ts type-equiv
interface FsTarget {
  targetKey: FsTargetKey
  displayPath: string
}
```

The backend owns file-version tokens — the freshness token a write/edit guards against. The policy plugin stores them for stale checks; consumers do not interpret them. Both ids are branded opaque strings.

```ts type-equiv
type FsTargetKey = Branded<'FsTargetKey'>
```

```ts type-equiv
type FsVersion = Branded<'FsVersion'>
```

`stat` returns metadata (never content), or `undefined` when the target is absent. `type` lets the tool reject directories/special files before reading, and `size` lets it choose `readText` vs `streamText` without probing by failure.

```ts type-equiv
interface FsInfo {
  version: FsVersion
  type: 'file' | 'directory' | 'other'
  size?: number
}
```

`listDir` returns direct child entries in stable name order. Each entry carries the child basename, type, resolved target, and cheap metadata when the backend can report it. It must not read file contents, so `size` is only for regular files and `version` is metadata-derived. Broken or disappeared children may be returned as `other` without metadata; permission or backend I/O failures while listing or resolving child metadata fail the whole listing with `FS_PERMISSION_DENIED` or `FS_IO_ERROR`.

```ts type-equiv
interface FsDirEntry {
  name: string
  type: 'file' | 'directory' | 'other'
  target: FsTarget
  version?: FsVersion
  size?: number
}
```

## Write and edit guards (provider seam)

Both `writeText` and `editText` take their version guard OPTIONALLY: omit it for an unconditional (bare-provider) mutation, supply it to guard. `writeText`'s guard is an `FsWriteIntent` — `createIfAbsent` creates a missing target and rejects an existing one with `FS_NOT_OBSERVED`; `replaceIfVersion` replaces only when the target exists at the observed version, else `FS_STALE_VERSION`. Omitting `expected` unconditionally creates-or-overwrites. The union itself carries only the two guarded intents; "no guard" is expressed by omission, so write and edit share one symmetric `expected?` shape.

```ts type-equiv
type FsWriteIntent =
  | { kind: 'createIfAbsent' }
  | { kind: 'replaceIfVersion'; version: FsVersion }
```

```ts type-equiv
interface FsWriteOutcome {
  operation: 'create' | 'update'
  version: FsVersion
  before: string | null
  after: string
}
```

`editText` is a provider-level mutation, not a `read` plus `write` composed elsewhere. When guarded it verifies the expected version BEFORE literal matching (so a stale edit reports `FS_STALE_VERSION`, not a match failure against newer content); unguarded it edits the current content. Either way it applies the replacement and writes atomically — keeping matching, line-ending handling, the stale check, and atomic replacement inside one mutation critical section — and a missing target reports `FS_STALE_VERSION` on both paths.

```ts type-equiv
interface FsEditRequest {
  oldString: string
  newString: string
  replaceAll: boolean
}
```

```ts type-equiv
interface FsEditOutcome {
  version: FsVersion
  before: string
  after: string
}
```

## The fs policy events (provider-seam vocabulary)

`dsh-fs` owns three events the tool dispatches and the policy plugin listens for, so the emitter (`dsh-tool-fs`) and the listener (`dsh-fs-policy`) share a vocabulary without the emitter depending on the policy plugin. They carry only `dsh-fs` vocabulary plus an opaque `object` actor — no model-facing concepts and no agent/session owner structure.

`fs/write-intent` and `fs/edit-intent` are **single-slot decision waterfalls**: the tool dispatches each with a default thunk returning `undefined` (the bare provider), and a listener fully decides without calling `next()`. The slot is first-wins by registration order — the policy plugin owning it is a deployment convention, not an enforced invariant. `fs/observed` is a fire-and-forget recording event dispatched with a plain `ctx.emit`; its listener MUST be synchronous and side-effect-only, because the tool does NOT guard the emit — a throwing listener would surface as the tool's `isError` result for a mutation that already succeeded. The generated catalog shows the exact signatures on [events.md](../cordis-catalog/events.md).

## Execution context (policy plugin)

The policy plugin needs just enough execution context to derive the observed-state owner by narrowing the opaque `object` actor the `fs/*` events carry. `ToolExecution` satisfies this shape, so `dsh-tool-fs` passes its execution object through as the actor without making `dsh-fs-policy` import the tool, agent, or session packages.

```ts type-equiv
interface FsPolicyExec {
  agent?: {
    session?: object
  }
}
```

## Read outcome (consumer / read rendering)

A text read is bounded by line window, byte cap, and backend limits. The outcome the model-facing `read` tool renders is purely presentational; there is no `full`/`partial` view — authorization is freshness-based (the tool emits `fs/observed` with the stat's version directly), so any windowed read can authorize a later write/edit when the file is unchanged. Read windowing and this outcome shape live in `dsh-tool-fs` (the executor that owns the read), not in the policy plugin.

```ts type-equiv
interface FileReadOutcome {
  offset: number
  lines: FileTextLine[]
  totalLines: number
  truncatedByBytes?: true
}
```

## Observed-file state (policy plugin)

Observed state is a `WeakMap<owner, Map<targetKey, { version }>>` held inside the `dsh-fs-policy` plugin. An entry exists **iff** the owner has read, written, OR edited that target (every success emits `fs/observed`), so its presence is the prior-observation record — there is no separate `hasRead` flag and no view distinction. The owner is derived from the event actor (normally `exec.agent.session`), treated as opaque and never read. A successful read/write/edit refreshes the recorded version for that owner; disposal drops everything (HMR safety).

## Error taxonomy (provider seam)

Filesystem failures use stable `FsErrorCode` strings carried by `FsError` (`HarnessError`). The tool registry preserves `{ name, code }` on error results, so retry, permission, and UI layers can branch without parsing text.

```ts type-equiv
type FsErrorCode =
  | 'FS_NOT_FOUND'
  | 'FS_NOT_DIRECTORY'
  | 'FS_NOT_TEXT'
  | 'FS_NOT_REGULAR_FILE'
  | 'FS_PERMISSION_DENIED'
  | 'FS_IO_ERROR'
  | 'FS_STALE_VERSION'
  | 'FS_NOT_OBSERVED'
  | 'FS_AMBIGUOUS_EDIT'
  | 'FS_EDIT_NOT_FOUND'
  | 'FS_ABORTED'
```

`FS_NOT_DIRECTORY`, `FS_PERMISSION_DENIED`, and `FS_IO_ERROR` are used by directory listing to distinguish an existing non-directory target, a denied listing, and an unexpected backend I/O failure. `FS_NOT_OBSERVED` means the policy plugin has no prior-observation record for this owner (or a `createIfAbsent` hit an existing file). `FS_STALE_VERSION` means the backend version no longer matches the observed one (or an edit hit a missing target). Freshness authorization has no partial/full distinction, so there is no `FS_PARTIAL_OBSERVATION`.

## The service and the plugin

`FileSystem` (`ctx.fs`, abstract) owns the provider primitives: `resolve`, `stat`, `readText`, `streamText`, `listDir`, `writeText`, and `editText`. `dsh-fs-policy` registers **no service** — it is a plugin that adds policy through the `fs/*` event gate: it decides the write/edit intent waterfalls (supplying `createIfAbsent`/`replaceIfVersion`/`{ version }` or throwing `FS_NOT_OBSERVED`) and records on `fs/observed`. The executor is `dsh-tool-fs`: it reads/writes/edits through `ctx.fs`, dispatches the waterfalls, and emits the recording event. The generated wiring catalog shows the exact `ctx.fs` signatures on [services.md](../cordis-catalog/services.md#ctxfs--filesystem-abstract-seam).