Summary

When a user changes the working directory via the folder picker in Goose Desktop, the session's working_dir is updated but extensions are loaded using the goose-server process's current directory instead of the session's working directory. This causes shell commands and other extension operations to run in the wrong directory.

User Report

Discord thread: https://discord.com/channels/1287729918100246654/1287729920319033345/1463483040511557795

The user reported that:

• The folder picker in the UI showed .../ios_development/dialysispal_v02/
• But Goose responded: "I see - it looks like your current working directory shows dialysispal_v02 but we're actually operating in /Users/alex/Downloads"

Diagnostics

From the user's diagnostics export (diagnostics_20260121_4.zip):

• Session working_dir: /Users/alex/Projects/ios_development/dialysispal_v02
• <info-msg> injected into conversation: Working directory: /Users/alex/Downloads

diagnostics_20260121_4.zip

The mismatch confirms the bug.

Root Cause Analysis

The bug is in crates/goose/src/agents/extension_manager.rs:

async fn resolve_working_dir(&self) -> PathBuf {
    // Fall back to current_dir - working_dir is passed through the call chain from session
    std::env::current_dir().unwrap_or_default()
}

The comment says "working_dir is passed through the call chain from session" but it is not actually passed through. The method just returns std::env::current_dir() which is the goose-server process's working directory, not the session's.

Call chain that needs fixing:

load_extensions_from_session(session) 
  → agent.add_extension(config)  // has access to session.working_dir but doesn't pass it
    → extension_manager.add_extension(config)  // needs working_dir parameter
      → resolve_working_dir()  // currently returns wrong directory

Impact

• Shell commands run in the wrong directory
• The <info-msg> shows the wrong working directory to the model
• Memory extension looks for .goose/memory in the wrong location
• Any extension that uses GOOSE_WORKING_DIR env var gets the wrong path

Suggested Fix

Either:

1. Add working_dir field to ExtensionManager and update it when session changes
2. Pass working_dir explicitly through the call chain from load_extensions_from_session → add_extension → extension_manager.add_extension

The key files to modify:

• crates/goose/src/agents/extension_manager.rs - add_extension() and resolve_working_dir()
• crates/goose/src/agents/agent.rs - load_extensions_from_session() and add_extension()

Environment

• App Version: 1.20.1
• OS: macOS
• Model: GLM-4.7 (via custom provider)