[BUG] [v0.0.7] cortex sessions cwd filter hides sessions when session cwd is a symlink path (must use --all)

[Ashishpan321]

Project

cortex

Description

cortex sessions filters sessions by current working directory unless --all is passed. If a session was created while the shell was in a symlinked directory, the session stores the symlink string in cwd, but std::env::current_dir() resolves to the real path. The strict path equality check fails, so the session is hidden and sessions --json returns [] even though the user is “in the same directory”.

Error Message

Debug Logs

System Information

linux

Screenshots

Steps to Reproduce

cd cortex
bin=/home/im8/bounty-challenge/cortex/target/debug/Cortex
tmp="$(mktemp -d)"

root="$tmp/root"
real="$root/real"
link="$root/link"
mkdir -p "$real"
ln -s "$real" "$link"

Create a minimal session rollout with cwd stored as the symlink path

mkdir -p "$tmp/.cortex/sessions"
cat >"$tmp/.cortex/sessions/symlinked.jsonl" <<EOF
{"timestamp":"2026-04-06T00:00:00Z","type":"session_meta","payload":{"id":"symlinked","parent_id":null,"fork_point":null,"timestamp":"2026-04-06T00:00:00Z","cwd":"$link","model":"gpt-4o","cli_version":"0.0.7","instructions":null}}
EOF

Run from inside the symlinked directory

cd "$link"
pwd -L
pwd -P
readlink -f .

HOME="$tmp" "$bin" sessions --json; echo "exit=$?"
HOME="$tmp" "$bin" sessions --json --all; echo "exit=$?"

Expected Behavior

Without --all, cortex sessions should still show sessions for “this directory”, even if the directory is entered via a symlink path.

Actual Behavior

Without --all, output is [] (session is hidden). With --all, the session appears.

Additional Context

Code Evidence

src/cortex-cli/src/cli/handlers.rs: list_sessions() filters by strict equality: if !all ... && s.cwd != *cwd { return false; } (no canonicalization).
src/cortex-engine/src/session/lifecycle.rs: list_sessions() sets cwd = PathBuf::from(&meta.cwd) using the stored string verbatim.

[echobt]

The issue reports that cortex sessions hides sessions when the current working directory is a symlink, unless the --all flag is passed. This happens because the session stores the symlink path in cwd, but std::env::current_dir() resolves to the real path, and the CLI uses strict path equality to filter sessions.

I verified the code in src/cortex-cli/src/cli/handlers.rs in the list_sessions function:

    let current_dir = std::env::current_dir().ok();
    let mut filtered: Vec<_> = sessions
        .into_iter()
        .filter(|s| {
            // Filter by cwd unless --all
            if !all
                && let Some(ref cwd) = current_dir
                && s.cwd != *cwd
            {
                return false;
            }

Here, std::env::current_dir() returns the canonicalized (real) path. The code then compares s.cwd != *cwd using strict equality.

I also verified src/cortex-engine/src/session/lifecycle.rs in the list_sessions function:

        if path.extension().is_some_and(|e| e == "jsonl")
            && let Ok(entries) = read_rollout(&path)
            && let Some(meta) = get_session_meta(&entries)
        {
            let cwd = PathBuf::from(&meta.cwd);

This shows that cwd is loaded verbatim from the session metadata string, which would be the symlink path if the session was created there.

The screenshot clearly demonstrates the bug using a reproduction script, showing that sessions --json returns [] while sessions --json --all returns the session. The issue is valid, authentic, and the code confirms the reported behavior.

graph TD
    A[User runs cortex sessions] --> B[Shows sessions]
    A --> C[Filters out session]
    style C fill:#ff6b6b

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