v1.13.17-cross-repo-reads: on-demand read access to paths outside the project root

When the agent needed context from another repo, pathGuard rejected every read
with no recovery path. This batch adds a reactive request_read_access flow:
pathGuard's error now hints at the tool, the model emits a structured request,
the inference loop pauses (same mechanism as ask_user_input), the user picks
Allow/Deny via inline chips, and subsequent reads under the granted root succeed
for the rest of the session.

Schema: sessions.allowed_read_paths TEXT[] NOT NULL DEFAULT ARRAY[]::TEXT[]
(idempotent ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS).

Grant unit (design D1): nearest registered projects.path ancestor →
nearest repo-shaped ancestor (.git/ / package.json / go.mod / Cargo.toml)
under PROJECT_ROOT_WHITELIST → else refuse. grant_resolver.ts walks
ancestors with a per-iteration whitelist invariant check so symlinked
input can't escape the whitelist mid-walk (Sam's checkpoint-1 ask).

Path-guard: optional extraRoots arg threaded from session.allowed_read_paths
through executeToolCall to view_file / list_dir / grep / find_files. The
ToolDef.execute signature gets an optional third param; non-FS tools
ignore it. view_file re-anchors the secret-guard check on basename(real)
whenever a relative path starts with "../" so .env / id_rsa* etc. still
deny across grant roots.

Endpoint: POST /api/chats/:id/grant_read_access mirrors /answer_user_input.
On 'allow' it re-resolves the grant root (state may have changed since
prompt — auto-falls to denial reason text on failure, not 500), array_appends
to sessions.allowed_read_paths with in-memory dedup, then publishes
tool_result + session_updated frames and enqueues the next assistant turn.

PATCH /api/sessions/:id allowed_read_paths supports revocation only. Zod
refines absolute + no traversal markers; runtime findUnauthorizedAdditions
guard rejects any entry not already present in the row, so a malicious
curl -X PATCH -d '{"allowed_read_paths":["/etc"]}' returns 400 instead of
bypassing the grant flow (Sam's compliance-review action item).

Frontend: RequestReadAccessCard renders pending (path + reason + Allow/Deny)
and answered (granted/denied summary with the resolved root) variants;
MessageList.flatten/group special-cases the tool name; SettingsPane adds a
per-session grants list with per-row revoke that PATCHes the shortened
array.

Tests: 11 grant_resolver, 8 path_guard, 8 sessions PATCH subset, including
explicit cases for symlink escape mid-walk, walk-bound termination at
whitelist root, /etc bypass attempt via PATCH, and nearest-project
disambiguation. 292 total server tests green.

Pairs with v1.13.16-xml-parser — the model now self-recovers from both
a wrong tool name AND from a refused path.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 All notable changes per release tag. Most recent on top, ordered by tag creation date (which matches the git history). Tag names follow `vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH-slug` — the slug describes what shipped, so the tag name alone is enough to recall the batch.
 
+## v1.13.17-cross-repo-reads — 2026-05-22
+
+On-demand read access to paths outside the session's primary project root. Closes the dead-end where `pathGuard` rejected every cross-repo read with no recovery path. New `request_read_access(path, reason)` tool emits an `ask_user_input`-style pause; user picks Allow/Deny via inline chips in `RequestReadAccessCard.tsx`; on Allow, the new `POST /api/chats/:id/grant_read_access` endpoint re-resolves the grant root and appends to `sessions.allowed_read_paths` (new `TEXT[]` column, default empty). Grant unit per design D1 = nearest registered `projects.path` ancestor → else nearest repo-shaped ancestor (`.git/` / `package.json` / `go.mod` / `Cargo.toml`) under `PROJECT_ROOT_WHITELIST` → else refuse without prompting. `pathGuard` extended with an optional `extraRoots` argument threaded from `session.allowed_read_paths` through `executeToolCall` to the four filesystem tools (view_file, list_dir, grep, find_files); `view_file` re-anchors the secret-guard check on `basename(real)` whenever the path resolved via a grant root so `.env` / `id_rsa*` deny still fires across grants. `grant_resolver.ts`'s ancestor walk checks the whitelist invariant on every iteration (not just final parent) so a symlinked input can't escape mid-walk. PATCH `/api/sessions/:id` exposes `allowed_read_paths` only for revocation: zod refines paths to absolute + no traversal markers, and a runtime subset guard (`findUnauthorizedAdditions`) rejects any entry not already present in the row, so a malicious `curl -X PATCH -d '{"allowed_read_paths":["/etc"]}'` 400s instead of bypassing the grant flow. Settings pane gains a per-session revoke list; archiving the session clears grants implicitly. 11 grant_resolver tests pin the symlink-escape-mid-walk guard (Sam's checkpoint-1 ask) and the nearest-project disambiguation; 8 path_guard tests cover extraRoots traversal; 8 sessions PATCH tests cover the subset guard including the `/etc` bypass attempt. Pairs with `v1.13.16-xml-parser` (model now both self-recovers from a wrong tool name AND from a refused path).
+
 ## v1.13.16-xml-parser — 2026-05-22
 
 Two-part fix for the model-emitted XML drift the v1.13.15 investigation surfaced. **Parser extension:** `xml-parser.ts` now recognizes the Anthropic `<invoke name="…"><parameter name="…">…</parameter></invoke>` shape alongside the existing Qwen/Hermes `<tool_call><function=…>…</function></tool_call>` shape. qwen3.6-35b-a3b-mxfp4 drifts to the Anthropic format when prompted as an Architect-style agent (Claude Code documentation in its pre-training corpus). Both formats route through the same synthetic-id `xml_call_${idx}` ToolCall path. The existing Qwen parser was tightened to tolerate whitespace around `=` (`<function = name>` shape) so a stray space doesn't get absorbed into the function name. **Unknown-tool recovery hint:** new `tool-suggestions.ts` exports `levenshtein()` + `suggestToolName()` + `formatUnknownToolError()`. When the dispatcher (`tool-phase.ts:executeToolCall`) receives an unknown tool name, the error returned to the model includes a "Did you mean: X?" hint based on Levenshtein distance ≤3 or substring match against `Object.keys(TOOLS_BY_NAME)`. Targets the qwen3.6 drift to `read_file` → suggest `view_file`. Test coverage in `xml-parser.test.ts` (46 tests, all green) covers both parsers, the partial-opener detector for both flavors, the unified extraction helper, and the new error formatter.