paperclipai/paperclip · error · Error

Working directory must be an absolute POSIX path on the…

Error message

Working directory must be an absolute POSIX path on the remote target: "${cwd}"

What it means

Path contract guard for remote execution targets: the requested working directory does not start with '/', but SSH/sandbox targets require absolute POSIX paths since they cannot interpret client-relative paths.

Solutions

1. Use an absolute POSIX path for the working directory on the remote target.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts:1039 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@3f1d897a7c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0882330a88b282c4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts:1089

          graceSec: 5,
        },
      );
      if (!probe.timedOut && probe.exitCode === 0) {
        return {
          code,
          level: "info",
          message: `${detectCommand} already on PATH; skipped install.`,
        };
      }
    } catch {
      // Fall through to actually running the install — failure to probe
      // is not a reason to skip the install gate.
    }
  }

  let result;
  try {
    result = await runAdapterExecutionTargetShellCommand(input.runId, target, trimmed, {
      cwd: target.remoteCwd,
      env: input.env ?? {},
      timeoutSec: input.timeoutSec ?? 240,
      graceSec: 10,
    });
  } catch (err) {
    return {
      code,
      level: "warn",
      message: "Install command threw before completion.",
      detail: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err),
    };
  }
  const tail = (text: string) =>
    text.split(/\r?\n/).filter((line) => line.trim().length > 0).slice(-3).join(" | ").slice(0, 480);
  if (result.timedOut) {
    return {
      code,

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