fix(cli): skip workspace policy loading when in home directory (#20054)

packages/cli/src/config/policy.test.ts

@@ -142,4 +142,48 @@ describe('resolveWorkspacePolicyState', () => {
       expect.stringContaining('Automatically accepting and loading'),
     );
   });
+
+  it('should not return workspace policies if cwd is the home directory', async () => {
+    const policiesDir = path.join(tempDir, '.gemini', 'policies');
+    fs.mkdirSync(policiesDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(policiesDir, 'policy.toml'), 'rules = []');
+
+    // Run from HOME directory (tempDir is mocked as HOME in beforeEach)
+    const result = await resolveWorkspacePolicyState({
+      cwd: tempDir,
+      trustedFolder: true,
+      interactive: true,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.workspacePoliciesDir).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result.policyUpdateConfirmationRequest).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('should not return workspace policies if cwd is a symlink to the home directory', async () => {
+    const policiesDir = path.join(tempDir, '.gemini', 'policies');
+    fs.mkdirSync(policiesDir, { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(policiesDir, 'policy.toml'), 'rules = []');
+
+    // Create a symlink to the home directory
+    const symlinkDir = path.join(
+      os.tmpdir(),
+      `gemini-cli-symlink-${Date.now()}`,
+    );
+    fs.symlinkSync(tempDir, symlinkDir, 'dir');
+
+    try {
+      // Run from symlink to HOME directory
+      const result = await resolveWorkspacePolicyState({
+        cwd: symlinkDir,
+        trustedFolder: true,
+        interactive: true,
+      });
+
+      expect(result.workspacePoliciesDir).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(result.policyUpdateConfirmationRequest).toBeUndefined();
+    } finally {
+      // Clean up symlink
+      fs.unlinkSync(symlinkDir);
+    }
+  });
 });

packages/cli/src/config/policy.ts

@@ -67,9 +67,15 @@ export async function resolveWorkspacePolicyState(options: {
     | undefined;
 
   if (trustedFolder) {
-    const potentialWorkspacePoliciesDir = new Storage(
-      cwd,
-    ).getWorkspacePoliciesDir();
+    const storage = new Storage(cwd);
+
+    // If we are in the home directory (or rather, our target Gemini dir is the global one),
+    // don't treat it as a workspace to avoid loading global policies twice.
+    if (storage.isWorkspaceHomeDir()) {
+      return { workspacePoliciesDir: undefined };
+    }
+
+    const potentialWorkspacePoliciesDir = storage.getWorkspacePoliciesDir();
     const integrityManager = new PolicyIntegrityManager();
     const integrityResult = await integrityManager.checkIntegrity(
       'workspace',

packages/cli/src/config/settings.test.ts

@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ import {
 import {
   FatalConfigError,
   GEMINI_DIR,
+  Storage,
   type MCPServerConfig,
 } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import { updateSettingsFilePreservingFormat } from '../utils/commentJson.js';
@@ -126,6 +127,30 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
   const actual =
     await importOriginal<typeof import('@google/gemini-cli-core')>();
   const os = await import('node:os');
+  const pathMod = await import('node:path');
+  const fsMod = await import('node:fs');
+
+  // Helper to resolve paths using the test's mocked environment
+  const testResolve = (p: string | undefined) => {
+    if (!p) return '';
+    try {
+      // Use the mocked fs.realpathSync if available, otherwise fallback
+      return fsMod.realpathSync(pathMod.resolve(p));
+    } catch {
+      return pathMod.resolve(p);
+    }
+  };
+
+  // Create a smarter mock for isWorkspaceHomeDir
+  vi.spyOn(actual.Storage.prototype, 'isWorkspaceHomeDir').mockImplementation(
+    function (this: Storage) {
+      const target = testResolve(pathMod.dirname(this.getGeminiDir()));
+      // Pick up the mocked home directory specifically from the 'os' mock
+      const home = testResolve(os.homedir());
+      return actual.normalizePath(target) === actual.normalizePath(home);
+    },
+  );
+
   return {
     ...actual,
     coreEvents: mockCoreEvents,
@@ -1491,20 +1516,29 @@ describe('Settings Loading and Merging', () => {
         return pStr;
       });
 
+      // Force the storage check to return true for this specific test
+      const isWorkspaceHomeDirSpy = vi
+        .spyOn(Storage.prototype, 'isWorkspaceHomeDir')
+        .mockReturnValue(true);
+
       (mockFsExistsSync as Mock).mockImplementation(
         (p: string) =>
           // Only return true for workspace settings path to see if it gets loaded
           p === mockWorkspaceSettingsPath,
       );
 
-      const settings = loadSettings(mockSymlinkDir);
+      try {
+        const settings = loadSettings(mockSymlinkDir);
 
-      // Verify that even though the file exists, it was NOT loaded because realpath matched home
-      expect(fs.readFileSync).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(
-        mockWorkspaceSettingsPath,
-        'utf-8',
-      );
-      expect(settings.workspace.settings).toEqual({});
+        // Verify that even though the file exists, it was NOT loaded because realpath matched home
+        expect(fs.readFileSync).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+          mockWorkspaceSettingsPath,
+          'utf-8',
+        );
+        expect(settings.workspace.settings).toEqual({});
+      } finally {
+        isWorkspaceHomeDirSpy.mockRestore();
+      }
     });
   });
 

packages/cli/src/config/settings.ts

@@ -637,24 +637,8 @@ export function loadSettings(
   const systemSettingsPath = getSystemSettingsPath();
   const systemDefaultsPath = getSystemDefaultsPath();
 
-  // Resolve paths to their canonical representation to handle symlinks
-  const resolvedWorkspaceDir = path.resolve(workspaceDir);
-  const resolvedHomeDir = path.resolve(homedir());
-
-  let realWorkspaceDir = resolvedWorkspaceDir;
-  try {
-    // fs.realpathSync gets the "true" path, resolving any symlinks
-    realWorkspaceDir = fs.realpathSync(resolvedWorkspaceDir);
-  } catch (_e) {
-    // This is okay. The path might not exist yet, and that's a valid state.
-  }
-
-  // We expect homedir to always exist and be resolvable.
-  const realHomeDir = fs.realpathSync(resolvedHomeDir);
-
-  const workspaceSettingsPath = new Storage(
-    workspaceDir,
-  ).getWorkspaceSettingsPath();
+  const storage = new Storage(workspaceDir);
+  const workspaceSettingsPath = storage.getWorkspaceSettingsPath();
 
   const load = (filePath: string): { settings: Settings; rawJson?: string } => {
     try {
@@ -712,7 +696,7 @@ export function loadSettings(
     settings: {} as Settings,
     rawJson: undefined,
   };
-  if (realWorkspaceDir !== realHomeDir) {
+  if (!storage.isWorkspaceHomeDir()) {
     workspaceResult = load(workspaceSettingsPath);
   }
 
@@ -800,11 +784,11 @@ export function loadSettings(
       readOnly: false,
     },
     {
-      path: realWorkspaceDir === realHomeDir ? '' : workspaceSettingsPath,
+      path: storage.isWorkspaceHomeDir() ? '' : workspaceSettingsPath,
       settings: workspaceSettings,
       originalSettings: workspaceOriginalSettings,
       rawJson: workspaceResult.rawJson,
-      readOnly: realWorkspaceDir === realHomeDir,
+      readOnly: storage.isWorkspaceHomeDir(),
     },
     isTrusted,
     settingsErrors,

packages/core/src/config/storage.ts

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
   GOOGLE_ACCOUNTS_FILENAME,
   isSubpath,
   resolveToRealPath,
+  normalizePath,
 } from '../utils/paths.js';
 import { ProjectRegistry } from './projectRegistry.js';
 import { StorageMigration } from './storageMigration.js';
@@ -142,6 +143,17 @@ export class Storage {
     return path.join(this.targetDir, GEMINI_DIR);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Checks if the current workspace storage location is the same as the global/user storage location.
+   * This handles symlinks and platform-specific path normalization.
+   */
+  isWorkspaceHomeDir(): boolean {
+    return (
+      normalizePath(resolveToRealPath(this.targetDir)) ===
+      normalizePath(resolveToRealPath(homedir()))
+    );
+  }
+
   getAgentsDir(): string {
     return path.join(this.targetDir, AGENTS_DIR_NAME);
   }