Managed skill "${safe}" is a symlink; refusing to delete out

Error message

Managed skill "${safe}" is a symlink; refusing to delete outside the managed directory.

What it means

deleteManagedSkill lstats the skill directory and refuses if the directory itself is a symlink, because fs.rm recursive would follow it and delete files outside the managed root. This keeps deletion confined to ~/.omp/agent/managed-skills.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/autolearn/managed-skills.ts:244

			await handle.close();
		}
		return { path: file };
	});
}

/** Delete a managed skill directory. Throws when it does not exist. */
export async function deleteManagedSkill(name: string): Promise<void> {
	const safe = sanitizeSkillName(name);
	await serializeSkillMutation(safe, async () => {
		await assertManagedRootSafe();
		const dir = path.join(getManagedSkillsDir(), safe);
		// Refuse to follow a symlinked skill directory (rm would delete the target).
		const dirStat = await fs.lstat(dir).catch(err => {
			if (isEnoent(err)) return null;
			throw err;
		});
		if (dirStat?.isSymbolicLink()) {
			throw new Error(`Managed skill "${safe}" is a symlink; refusing to delete outside the managed directory.`);
		}
		try {
			await fs.rm(dir, { recursive: true });
		} catch (err) {
			if (isEnoent(err)) {
				throw new Error(`Managed skill "${safe}" does not exist.`);
			}
			throw err;
		}
	});
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

Remove the symlink itself (rm the link, not its target), then recreate a real directory if the skill should exist.
Delete the actual target directory manually if that is the intent, and verify the managed root no longer contains links.
Audit with `find ~/.omp/agent/managed-skills -maxdepth 1 -type l` to locate offending links.

Example fix

# before: managed-skills/my-skill -> /elsewhere/my-skill (symlink)
# after
rm ~/.omp/agent/managed-skills/my-skill   # removes the link only

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import * as fs from "node:fs/promises";
const dir = `${getManagedSkillsDir()}/${sanitizeSkillName(name)}`;
const st = await fs.lstat(dir).catch(() => null);
if (st?.isSymbolicLink()) throw new Error(`${name} is a symlink; refusing to delete`);

Try / catch

try {
  await deleteManagedSkill(name);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('symlink')) {
    logger.warn("refusing to delete symlinked managed skill", { name });
  } else throw err;
}

Prevention

Check lstat().isSymbolicLink() on the skill directory before deleting.
Only delete directories your own tooling created inside the managed root.
Run `find ~/.omp/agent/managed-skills -type l` as part of setup hygiene.

When it happens

Trigger: deleteManagedSkill(name) is called while ~/.omp/agent/managed-skills/<name> is a symlink to another directory (authored skills, a tmp dir, etc.).

Common situations: A user linked a managed skill dir to a real skill folder to keep them in sync; a migration or sync tool replaced the directory with a link; malicious symlink planting.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2ae6595e84e1e8ce. Report an issue: GitHub.