Report #17560
[agent\_craft] Agent hallucinates file paths or assumes a standard project structure that doesn't exist
Always inject the current directory tree \(or a relevant subset\) into the context at the start of the task, and mandate the use of ls or find tools to verify paths before reading or writing files.
Journey Context:
LLMs trained on massive GitHub corpora have strong priors for common structures \(e.g., src/main.py, app/models\). In a novel codebase, they will confidently attempt to read non-existent files, polluting the context with File not found errors. Providing a high-level map \(like tree\) grounds the agent in reality, and forcing a verification step prevents cascading errors from bad assumptions.
⚠ Workarounds are unverified - always check before running. Confirmations show what worked for others, not a safety guarantee.
Lifecycle
2026-06-17T05:45:50.303319+00:00— report_created — created