Absolute Path Review Dispatch Guard

Absolute Path Review Dispatch Guard

Use this when dispatching adversarial plan/code reviews to Codex or Gemini via terminal(background=true, pty=true).

Problem

A prompt file can exist in the target repo, but the reviewer process still fails with:

• cat: .planning/quick/review-<n>-prompt.md: No such file or directory

This can happen even when:

• the file was successfully written,
• find/ls confirms it exists,
• and terminal(workdir=...) was set correctly.

Root cause

In background PTY runs, Codex/Gemini may start with an effective working directory different from the requested repo workdir. A real observed case:

• requested workdir: /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub/worldenergydata
• Codex startup banner reported: /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub

So relative prompt references like:

• $(cat .planning/quick/review-342-prompt.md) can fail because they resolve from the wrong directory.

Reliable pattern

1. Write the prompt file to a real repo path.
2. Verify it exists with find or ls.
3. Dispatch reviewers using absolute paths for:
   • prompt file
   • tee output file

Example:

codex exec "$(cat /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub/worldenergydata/.planning/quick/review-342-prompt.md)" \
  2>&1 | tee /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub/worldenergydata/.planning/quick/review-342-codex.out

gemini exec "$(cat /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub/worldenergydata/.planning/quick/review-342-prompt.md)" \
  2>&1 | tee /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub/worldenergydata/.planning/quick/review-342-gemini.out

Verification steps

Before waiting on the process:

1. confirm prompt file exists at the absolute path
2. check initial process output for immediate cat: ... No such file or directory
3. if that error appears, kill and relaunch with absolute paths
4. do not assume the issue is the file write itself until you verify the reviewer startup workdir/path resolution

Artifact rule

When a provider still fails after dispatch:

• save a canonical review artifact anyway
• mark verdict as UNAVAILABLE if no substantive review was produced
• include concrete failure reason and raw log path

When this skill helps

• adversarial plan review waves
• adversarial implementation review waves
• any Codex/Gemini background CLI dispatch that reads prompt files with $(cat ...)

Anti-pattern

Do not use repo-relative prompt paths in background reviewer commands just because workdir was set. That assumption is not reliable enough.