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Security: Path Safety / Allowlist

This page documents workspace filesystem safety controls.

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Path Validation Controls

Workspace path policy rejects:
  • traversal attempts (..)
  • invalid characters (including backslash and null byte)
  • escapes outside resolved workspace root
  • symlink escapes after realpath resolution

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Workspace Root Resolution

Root resolves from a fallback chain:
  1. settings workspace path
  2. env vars
  3. discovered OpenClaw config workspace
  4. known workspace directories
  5. nearest marker files
  6. local fallback

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Allowlisted Top-level Directories

Implemented allowlisted workspace directories include:
  • agents, overlays, skills, playbooks, plugins, agent-templates
  • memory, life, docs, tools, templates, canvas, projects
Strict mode can enforce root allowlist behavior with CLAWCONTROL_WORKSPACE_ALLOWLIST_ONLY=1.

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Workspace Validation

Workspace validation checks include:
  • path exists and is directory
  • required AGENTS.md at workspace root
  • warnings for recommended structures (for example memory/, agents/, agent SOUL.md presence)

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Last updated

2026-02-09