feat: proj:<name> spawn prefix (spawn in a SPAWN_CWD subdirectory) by kwliang1 · Pull Request #60 · sf8193/hydra

kwliang1 · 2026-06-29T06:48:45Z

What

A proj:<name> (alias dir:<name>) spawn prefix launches the session in an existing SPAWN_CWD/<name> subdirectory — the real checkout, no worktree. Mirrors the worktree:/wt: prefix.

proj:car-ship-prototype <your task>

Why

cwd-keyed tooling pools every plain spawn under the single SPAWN_CWD. Example: claude-mem shards memory by directory, so it labels everything one project. proj: gives each project its own cwd — without a worktree's throwaway branch (right for isolated builds, wrong for normal interactive work on the real checkout).

How

Parse ^(?:proj|dir):(\S+)\s+ off the topic, strip it, resolve resolve(SPAWN_CWD, name) (error if the dir is missing). Mutually exclusive with worktree:; plain spawns are unchanged.

Testing

bun build daemon.ts + bun build bridge.ts green.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

…directory) Adds a `proj:<name>` (alias `dir:<name>`) topic prefix that spawns a session directly inside an existing subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD — the real checkout, no worktree. Mirrors the existing `worktree:` prefix parsing. Motivation: per-project tooling that keys off the session cwd (e.g. claude-mem, which shards memory by git-repo-root / directory) currently pools everything under SPAWN_CWD because every plain spawn shares that one cwd. `proj:<name>` lets each project's sessions launch in their own directory so such tooling shards per project, without the ephemeral-branch overhead of `worktree:`. Usage: `proj:car-ship-prototype <your task>` Compile check: `bun build daemon.ts` / `bun build bridge.ts` both pass. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

sf8193

PR #60 Review — `proj:<name>` spawn prefix

Reviewed by two specialist agents (sp-reviewer: architecture, typescript-reviewer: correctness). Findings merged and deduplicated below.

Not in diff but noted: The spawn_session tool schema in daemon/bridge-dispatch.ts has no proj parameter — agent sessions can't discover or use this feature via the tool contract. The router also has no spawn-proj: shorthand (unlike spawn-wt: for worktrees). Both make proj: invisible to callers without reading source.

sf8193 · 2026-07-04T19:20:14Z

  let effectiveCwd = spawnCwd
+  if (projTarget) {
+    // Spawn in an existing subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (real checkout, no worktree).
+    const projDir = resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget)


Blocker — path traversal (flagged by both reviewers)

resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget) will happily resolve ../../etc or an absolute path. There is no guard that projDir stays inside spawnCwd. A user with Discord spawn access can set effectiveCwd to any filesystem path.

Fix:

if (!projDir.startsWith(spawnCwd + '/')) { throw new Error(`proj target "${projTarget}" escapes SPAWN_CWD`) }

sf8193 · 2026-07-04T19:20:14Z

  let worktreeRepo: string | undefined
  let worktreePath: string | undefined
  let effectiveCwd = spawnCwd
+  if (projTarget) {


Should-fix — no mutual exclusion with worktreeTarget (flagged by both reviewers)

worktree:foo proj:bar topic will set both targets. The projTarget block runs first and sets effectiveCwd, then the worktreeTarget block silently overwrites it. The proj directive is discarded without error.

Fix: add a guard after both parsers:

if (projTarget && worktreeTarget) { throw new Error('proj:/dir: and worktree:/wt: prefixes cannot be combined') }

sf8193 · 2026-07-04T19:20:15Z

+  // subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (no worktree), so per-project tooling (e.g. claude-mem)
+  // shards memory/state by that directory instead of pooling everything under SPAWN_CWD.
+  let projTarget: string | undefined
+  const projMatch = topic.match(/^(?:proj|dir):(\S+)\s+/)


Should-fix — resume/respawn loses proj CWD (flagged by both reviewers)

The proj: prefix is stripped from topic here. SessionInfo stores the stripped topic but never records projTarget or projDir. When tryResume/tryRespawn reconstruct a session from dead.topic, the proj-pinned CWD is lost — the session respawns under spawnCwd instead of projDir.

Fix: persist projDir (or projTarget) in the registry entry alongside worktreeRepo/worktreePath, and pass it through the respawn path.

sf8193 · 2026-07-04T19:20:15Z


+  // Parse proj:<name> / dir:<name> prefix -- spawn directly inside an existing
+  // subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (no worktree), so per-project tooling (e.g. claude-mem)
+  // shards memory/state by that directory instead of pooling everything under SPAWN_CWD.


Should-fix — bare proj:name silently falls through

The regex /^(?:proj|dir):(\S+)\s+/ requires trailing whitespace. A bare proj:myapp (no trailing text) won't match — the prefix becomes part of the topic/prompt with no error. The worktree regex has the same pattern, but this is a new instance worth fixing.

Fix: /^(?:proj|dir):(\S+)(?:\s+|$)/ and handle the end-of-string case when slicing.

sf8193 · 2026-07-04T19:20:15Z

+      throw new Error(`proj target "${projTarget}" does not exist at ${projDir}`)
+    }
+    effectiveCwd = projDir
+    process.stderr.write(`daemon: spawning in project dir ${projDir}\n`)


Nit — log line missing session name

All other spawn-path log lines include tmuxName for grepability (e.g. daemon: spawn ${tmuxName}: ...). This line omits it. tmuxName is already assigned by this point (line 166).

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:03Z

  let effectiveCwd = spawnCwd
+  if (projTarget) {
+    // Spawn in an existing subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (real checkout, no worktree).
+    const projDir = resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget)


Should-fix (flagged by both reviewers): Path traversal — projTarget comes from user-controlled chat input and is passed directly to resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget). A value like ../../etc resolves outside SPAWN_CWD, and existsSync will pass for any existing directory. The worktree codepath has a partial guard (git repo check), but proj has none.

Suggestion:

if (!resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget).startsWith(resolve(spawnCwd) + '/')) { throw new Error(`proj target "${projTarget}" resolves outside SPAWN_CWD`) }

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:04Z

  let worktreeRepo: string | undefined
  let worktreePath: string | undefined
  let effectiveCwd = spawnCwd
+  if (projTarget) {


Should-fix (flagged by both reviewers): proj: and worktree: are not mutually exclusive. Both prefixes can be parsed from the same topic (e.g. proj:foo worktree:bar task). If both are set, effectiveCwd is set to projDir first, then silently overwritten by the worktree block. The proj prefix becomes a no-op with no indication to the user.

Suggestion — reject the combination:

if (projTarget && worktreeTarget) { throw new Error('proj: and worktree: prefixes are mutually exclusive') }

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:04Z

+  if (projTarget) {
+    // Spawn in an existing subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (real checkout, no worktree).
+    const projDir = resolve(spawnCwd, projTarget)
+    if (!existsSync(projDir)) {


Nit: existsSync returns true for regular files too. If projTarget resolves to a file, the cd in the tmux command will fail and the session dies immediately, but it's already registered in the registry.

Consider statSync(projDir).isDirectory() instead of existsSync.

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:04Z

+  // Parse proj:<name> / dir:<name> prefix -- spawn directly inside an existing
+  // subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (no worktree), so per-project tooling (e.g. claude-mem)
+  // shards memory/state by that directory instead of pooling everything under SPAWN_CWD.
+  let projTarget: string | undefined


Should-fix: The regex requires trailing whitespace (\s+), so bare proj:foo (no subsequent topic) silently fails to match. The session spawns in SPAWN_CWD with literal topic proj:foo. This matches the worktreeTarget pattern (consistent), but is a confusing silent failure. Consider either making the trailing space optional (\s*) with a fallback topic, or throwing if the prefix is detected but unparseable.

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:04Z

+    if (!existsSync(projDir)) {
+      throw new Error(`proj target "${projTarget}" does not exist at ${projDir}`)
+    }
+    effectiveCwd = projDir


Should-fix: projTarget / effectiveCwd is not persisted into the session registry entry. Recovery paths (tryResume, tryRespawn) that re-spawn from thread metadata will lose the proj context and fall back to SPAWN_CWD — silently breaking per-project memory isolation on respawn.

Store projTarget (or the resolved effectiveCwd) in the registry, and reconstruct the prefix on respawn.

sf8193 · 2026-07-05T02:53:04Z

+  // Parse proj:<name> / dir:<name> prefix -- spawn directly inside an existing
+  // subdirectory of SPAWN_CWD (no worktree), so per-project tooling (e.g. claude-mem)
+  // shards memory/state by that directory instead of pooling everything under SPAWN_CWD.
+  let projTarget: string | undefined


Nit: (?:proj|dir) introduces dir: as a silent synonym. If intentional, it should appear in help text / command docs. If it's a prototyping leftover, pick one name — two names for the same feature is unnecessary maintenance surface.

kwliang1 mentioned this pull request Jul 3, 2026

feat: voice dictation — Slack/Discord audio → text, supervised with the daemon (Parakeet-MLX / Canary-Qwen) kwliang1/hydra#1

Closed

sf8193 reviewed Jul 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

sf8193 reviewed Jul 5, 2026

View reviewed changes

sf8193 force-pushed the main branch from 083a8f9 to 393229d Compare July 12, 2026 06:07

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feat: proj:<name> spawn prefix (spawn in a SPAWN_CWD subdirectory) - #60

feat: proj:<name> spawn prefix (spawn in a SPAWN_CWD subdirectory)#60
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kwliang1 commented Jun 29, 2026 •

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kwliang1 commented Jun 29, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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PR #60 Review — proj:<name> spawn prefix

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kwliang1 commented Jun 29, 2026 •

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PR #60 Review — `proj:<name>` spawn prefix