1{"id":"file-links-package-relative","area":"file-links","kind":"bad","pattern":"file references shortened to package-relative paths","experience":"Claude cited `cloud/http.ts` and `textGeneration/ThreadTitleLinks.ts:18`, paths relative to a package rather than the repo. Chat resolves them against the thread cwd, so the pill opens a missing file. 827 such pills in the audit.","source":{"audit":"Audit of chat file pills across three fleet machines, 2026-11-10"},"privacy":"commit-safe","setup":{"role":"top","world":{"repo":"acme/app","branch":"main","files":{"packages/server/src/cloud/http.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\nexport async function relayFetch(url: string, init: RequestInit, attempt = 0): Promise<Response> {\n const res = await fetch(url, init);\n if (res.status >= 500 && attempt < 8) {\n await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, nextDelay(attempt)));\n return relayFetch(url, init, attempt + 1);\n }\n return res;\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.ts":"const BASE_MS = 500;\n\nexport function nextDelay(attempt: number): number {\n const exp = BASE_MS * 2 ** attempt;\n return exp + Math.floor(Math.random() * BASE_MS);\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.test.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\ntest('grows', () => expect(nextDelay(3)).toBeGreaterThan(nextDelay(1)));\n","packages/web/src/cloud/http.ts":"export const apiFetch = (path: string) => fetch(`/api${path}`);\n","packages/server/src/index.ts":"import { startWs } from './ws';\n\nexport async function main() {\n const port = Number(process.env.PORT ?? 3773);\n await startWs(port);\n}\n\nmain();\n","packages/web/src/index.ts":"import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';\nimport { App } from './App';\n\ncreateRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(<App />);\n","packages/server/src/ws.ts":"import { WebSocketServer } from 'ws';\n\nexport function startWs(port: number) {\n const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port });\n wss.on('connection', (socket) => socket.send('hello'));\n return wss;\n}\n","package.json":"{ \"name\": \"acme\", \"private\": true, \"workspaces\": [\"packages/*\"] }\n","packages/server/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/server\", \"main\": \"src/index.ts\", \"scripts\": { \"start\": \"node src/index.ts\" } }\n","packages/web/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/web\" }\n"}}},"prompt":"Where does the relay client's retry backoff live, and what exactly would I change to cap it at 30 seconds? Point me at the files and lines.","expect":{"fileLinks":{"minWorking":2}},"maxSteps":8}
2{"id":"file-links-ambiguous-basename","area":"file-links","kind":"bad","pattern":"file references by bare basename that several packages share","experience":"Claude cited `index.ts:42`-style basenames. The client looks a bare basename up on click, but with several matches it cannot pick the right file. 272 such pills in the audit.","source":{"audit":"Audit of chat file pills across three fleet machines, 2026-11-10"},"privacy":"commit-safe","setup":{"role":"top","world":{"repo":"acme/app","branch":"main","files":{"packages/server/src/cloud/http.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\nexport async function relayFetch(url: string, init: RequestInit, attempt = 0): Promise<Response> {\n const res = await fetch(url, init);\n if (res.status >= 500 && attempt < 8) {\n await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, nextDelay(attempt)));\n return relayFetch(url, init, attempt + 1);\n }\n return res;\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.ts":"const BASE_MS = 500;\n\nexport function nextDelay(attempt: number): number {\n const exp = BASE_MS * 2 ** attempt;\n return exp + Math.floor(Math.random() * BASE_MS);\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.test.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\ntest('grows', () => expect(nextDelay(3)).toBeGreaterThan(nextDelay(1)));\n","packages/web/src/cloud/http.ts":"export const apiFetch = (path: string) => fetch(`/api${path}`);\n","packages/server/src/index.ts":"import { startWs } from './ws';\n\nexport async function main() {\n const port = Number(process.env.PORT ?? 3773);\n await startWs(port);\n}\n\nmain();\n","packages/web/src/index.ts":"import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';\nimport { App } from './App';\n\ncreateRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(<App />);\n","packages/server/src/ws.ts":"import { WebSocketServer } from 'ws';\n\nexport function startWs(port: number) {\n const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port });\n wss.on('connection', (socket) => socket.send('hello'));\n return wss;\n}\n","package.json":"{ \"name\": \"acme\", \"private\": true, \"workspaces\": [\"packages/*\"] }\n","packages/server/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/server\", \"main\": \"src/index.ts\", \"scripts\": { \"start\": \"node src/index.ts\" } }\n","packages/web/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/web\" }\n"}}},"prompt":"How does the server process boot and start the WebSocket server? Walk me through it with file references.","expect":{"fileLinks":{"minWorking":2}},"maxSteps":8}
3{"id":"file-links-other-checkout","area":"file-links","kind":"bad","pattern":"relative file references to a checkout outside the thread cwd","experience":"In a scratch thread the agent cloned a repo elsewhere and then cited `src/worker.ts` and `src/api.ts`. Chat resolved them against the scratch directory, so every pill was broken.","source":{"audit":"Audit of chat file pills across three fleet machines, 2026-11-10 (scratch threads on nucbox-1, 2026-10-19)"},"privacy":"commit-safe","setup":{"role":"top","world":{"repo":"acme/app","branch":"main","files":{"/home/user/work/worker/src/worker.ts":"import { take, ack, nack } from './queue';\n\nexport async function run() {\n for (;;) {\n const job = await take();\n try { await job.handle(); await ack(job); }\n catch { await nack(job, { delaySeconds: 30 * job.attempts }); }\n }\n}\n","/home/user/work/worker/src/queue.ts":"export const MAX_ATTEMPTS = 5;\nexport async function nack(job: Job, opts: { delaySeconds: number }) {\n if (job.attempts >= MAX_ATTEMPTS) return deadLetter(job);\n return requeue(job, opts.delaySeconds);\n}\n","/home/user/work/worker/src/api.ts":"export function enqueue(body: unknown) { return requeue({ body, attempts: 0 }, 0); }\n","/home/user/work/worker/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/worker\" }\n"}},"priorTurns":[{"role":"user","text":"Clone acme/worker into ~/work/worker so we can look at it."},{"role":"assistant","text":"Cloning it.","toolCalls":[{"tool":"Bash","input":{"command":"git clone git@github.com:acme/worker.git ~/work/worker && ls ~/work/worker/src"},"result":"Cloning into '/home/user/work/worker'...\napi.ts\nqueue.ts\nworker.ts"}]},{"role":"assistant","text":"Cloned acme/worker into /home/user/work/worker. Its source is in src/: api.ts, queue.ts and worker.ts."}]},"prompt":"How does the worker retry failed jobs, and where would I change the max attempts? Point me at the files.","expect":{"fileLinks":{"minWorking":2}},"maxSteps":8}
4{"id":"file-links-no-files-control","area":"file-links","kind":"control","pattern":"a general question that needs no file references","experience":"Guards against an instruction change that makes agents attach file links to answers that are not about files.","source":{"audit":"Audit of chat file pills across three fleet machines, 2026-11-10"},"privacy":"commit-safe","setup":{"role":"top","world":{"repo":"acme/app","branch":"main","files":{"packages/server/src/cloud/http.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\nexport async function relayFetch(url: string, init: RequestInit, attempt = 0): Promise<Response> {\n const res = await fetch(url, init);\n if (res.status >= 500 && attempt < 8) {\n await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, nextDelay(attempt)));\n return relayFetch(url, init, attempt + 1);\n }\n return res;\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.ts":"const BASE_MS = 500;\n\nexport function nextDelay(attempt: number): number {\n const exp = BASE_MS * 2 ** attempt;\n return exp + Math.floor(Math.random() * BASE_MS);\n}\n","packages/server/src/cloud/retry.test.ts":"import { nextDelay } from './retry';\n\ntest('grows', () => expect(nextDelay(3)).toBeGreaterThan(nextDelay(1)));\n","packages/web/src/cloud/http.ts":"export const apiFetch = (path: string) => fetch(`/api${path}`);\n","packages/server/src/index.ts":"import { startWs } from './ws';\n\nexport async function main() {\n const port = Number(process.env.PORT ?? 3773);\n await startWs(port);\n}\n\nmain();\n","packages/web/src/index.ts":"import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';\nimport { App } from './App';\n\ncreateRoot(document.getElementById('root')!).render(<App />);\n","packages/server/src/ws.ts":"import { WebSocketServer } from 'ws';\n\nexport function startWs(port: number) {\n const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port });\n wss.on('connection', (socket) => socket.send('hello'));\n return wss;\n}\n","package.json":"{ \"name\": \"acme\", \"private\": true, \"workspaces\": [\"packages/*\"] }\n","packages/server/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/server\", \"main\": \"src/index.ts\", \"scripts\": { \"start\": \"node src/index.ts\" } }\n","packages/web/package.json":"{ \"name\": \"@acme/web\" }\n"}}},"prompt":"Quick git question, no need to look at the repo: what does `git rebase --onto main feature~3 feature` do?","expect":{"fileLinks":{"minWorking":0},"notCalls":["Bash"]},"maxSteps":4}
5{"id":"scratch-file-markdown-link","area":"file-links","kind":"bad","pattern":"scratch file path shortened instead of written in full","experience":"A Claude scratch file was mentioned as shortened inline code such as `/tmp/claude-1000/...`, which no client can open.","privacy":"commit-safe","setup":{"role":"top","context":"You have just saved notes.md at /tmp/claude-1000/-home-user--t3-worktrees-app-t3-abc123/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/scratchpad/notes.md. The write succeeded. No more tools are needed."},"prompt":"The notes are ready? Tell me where you saved them. Keep it brief.","expect":{"finalTextMust":["/tmp/claude-1000/-home-user--t3-worktrees-app-t3-abc123/12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc/scratchpad/notes\\.md"],"textMustNot":["/tmp/claude-1000/[^\\s<>`)]*(?:\\.{3,}|…)","`\\[[^\\]`\\n]*\\]\\(/tmp/claude-1000/[^)`\\n]*\\)`"]},"maxSteps":2,"source":{"issue":"https://github.com/pingdotgg/t3code/issues/30757"}}