Federico Mariani created CAMEL-26398:
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Summary: camel-jbang-mcp - the file tools refuse an absolute file
path, a call without directory, and a directory that does not exist yet
Key: CAMEL-26398
URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CAMEL-26398
Project: Camel
Issue Type: Improvement
Components: camel-jbang, camel-jbang-mcp
Affects Versions: 4.23.0
Reporter: Federico Mariani
Assignee: Federico Mariani
Found on main (4.24.0-SNAPSHOT, commit ffef175654d1); the line numbers below
are from that commit. The same code is in the 4.23.0 release.
h3. Reproduction
{{camel_validate_source}}, {{camel_write_file}}, {{camel_edit_file}} and
{{camel_get_files}} take a {{directory}} (absolute) and a {{file}} relative to
it. Models often pass the path in a different way:
{code}
camel_validate_source {"file":"/workspace/camel/routes.yaml"}
-> directory is required: the project directory with the source files
camel_validate_source
{"file":"/workspace/camel/main-route.yaml","directory":"/workspace"}
-> file must be a path relative to the directory /workspace, not
/workspace/camel/main-route.yaml
camel_validate_source {"file":"camel/book-orders.yaml"}
-> directory is required: the project directory with the source files
camel_validate_source {"file":"order-intake.yaml","directory":"/workspace"}
(the file is camel/order-intake.yaml)
-> No such file in the directory: order-intake.yaml
camel_write_file
{"directory":"/workspace/camel","file":"application.properties","content":"..."}
(camel/ not created yet)
-> No such directory: /workspace/camel
{code}
In each case the intended file is clear and inside the directory the agent
works in.
Eval evidence (200 trials on 4.24.0-SNAPSHOT): 21 failed calls (Claude Haiku
4.5: 13, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 5, GLM 5.3: 2, Claude Haiku 5.5: 1). Sonnet 5.5
had none.
||Shape||Calls||
|absolute {{file}}, no {{directory}}|7|
|relative {{file}}, no {{directory}}|5|
|absolute {{file}} and {{directory}}|2|
|{{file}} relative to the wrong directory (it is in a subdirectory)|2|
|YAML content passed as {{file}}|2|
|{{camel_write_file}} into a directory that does not exist yet|3|
Usually the next call fixed the arguments. In 2 of the validate episodes (Haiku
4.5), the agent stopped validating and edited the file instead. Both
{{camel_write_file}} episodes (DeepSeek) went on with {{mkdir -p}} in the shell
and the same call again. These tools are new in 4.24, so 4.22.1 has nothing to
compare with.
h3. Cause
* {{ToolContext.resolveDirectory}}
({{camel-jbang-core/.../commands/ai/ToolContext.java:159-169}}) needs
{{directory}} when the context has no default (an MCP server has none), and
rejects a directory that does not exist.
* {{AuthoringTools.resolveFile}}
({{commands/ai/AuthoringTools.java:2217-2234}}) rejects every absolute
{{file}}, even one that lies inside {{directory}}.
* {{camel_validate_source}} reads the file only at {{directory/file}}
({{AuthoringTools.java:192-205}}), and its "No such file" answer does not say
where a file of that name is.
* {{camel_write_file}} creates missing subdirectories of the file
({{Files.createDirectories(path.getParent())}}, {{AuthoringTools.java:1749}}),
but not a missing {{directory}}.
h3. Fix
* Absolute {{file}}: with no {{directory}}, take its parent as the directory.
With a {{directory}}, accept it when it lies inside the directory, and make it
relative.
* No {{directory}} and a relative {{file}}: use the client's MCP roots when
there is exactly one, else answer with the directory to pass. The working
directory of a stdio server, which clients usually start in the project, could
also be the default.
* {{camel_write_file}} (and only the write tool) creates a missing
{{directory}}, as it already does for subdirectories of {{file}}.
* "No such file in the directory": name a file of that name in a subdirectory
(e.g. "camel/order-intake.yaml exists"). When {{file}} has several lines, say
that the content goes in {{content}}.
* The path rules stay the same: the resolved file must stay inside the resolved
directory.
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