write-manifest voila resolves a directory path without a trailing slash to the working directory

@tdstein

🤖 Filed on behalf of @tdstein.

rsconnect write-manifest voila <dir> uses dirname(path) as the project directory. For a directory given without a trailing slash, such as proj, that is '', the working directory. This causes one of two problems:

If the working directory has no requirements.txt, the command fails even though proj/requirements.txt exists.
If the working directory has a requirements.txt, the command succeeds but writes proj/manifest.json with the working directory's requirements, not the project's. Nothing warns that the wrong dependencies were recorded.

proj/ (trailing slash) and proj/report.ipynb both work.

Steps to reproduce

With rsconnect-python 1.32.0:

mkdir -p proj
printf '{"cells":[],"metadata":{},"nbformat":4,"nbformat_minor":5}' > proj/report.ipynb
echo voila > proj/requirements.txt

rsconnect write-manifest voila proj

Checking arguments...                            [OK]
[ERROR]
Error: The requirements file 'requirements.txt' does not exist in ''.
Please create the file or specify a different file with --requirements-file.
To have the requirements file generated using pip freeze, pass --force-generate.

Then add an unrelated requirements.txt to the working directory:

echo pandas > requirements.txt
rsconnect write-manifest voila proj
md5 -q requirements.txt proj/requirements.txt
python -c "import json; print(json.load(open('proj/manifest.json'))['files']['requirements.txt'])"

Creating manifest.json...                        [OK]
2f19884f14598d8de5efae75e6d86a7c
9dec73da42aacc7d693d84bbacf07dbe
{'checksum': '2f19884f14598d8de5efae75e6d86a7c'}

The manifest's requirements.txt checksum matches ./requirements.txt (pandas), not proj/requirements.txt (voila).

Cause

write_manifest_voila in rsconnect/main.py computes the base directory with dirname alone:

base_dir = dirname(path)

deploy_voila in the same file handles a directory:

base_dir = path if isdir(path) else dirname(path)

The same base_dir also sets manifest_path for the --overwrite check, so that check looks at ./manifest.json instead of proj/manifest.json.

Suggested fix

Use base_dir = path if isdir(path) else dirname(path) in write_manifest_voila, as deploy_voila does, and add a test that passes a directory with no trailing slash.

Context

Found while updating the Posit Connect docs to use the Posit CLI (posit connect write-manifest voila), which mounts this command. Checked against main at b1f5ca2.

Codex Workpad

Plan

1. Reproduce the Voilà directory-path bug.
- 1.1 Confirm requirements selection and overwrite behavior.
2. Fix project-directory resolution and add regression coverage.
- 2.1 Preserve notebook-file and trailing-slash behavior.
3. Validate and publish the PR.
- 3.1 Run focused checks and review the diff.
- 3.2 Publish the PR and bind validation evidence to its head.

Acceptance Criteria

A Voilà directory without a trailing slash uses its own requirements and manifest path.
Notebook-file and trailing-slash paths continue to work.
Existing project manifests are protected unless overwrite is requested.

Validation

Command:
- python -m pytest -q tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py tests/test_environment.py tests/test_bundle.py tests/test_main.py tests/test_write_manifest_pyproject.py
- ruff format --check rsconnect/main.py tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py
- ruff check rsconnect/main.py tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py
- git diff --check HEAD^ HEAD
Commit: 1a009cf
Observed: 310 passed, 10 skipped; formatting, lint, and diff checks passed. Commands used the existing isolated test environment.

Evidence

Reproduction

Command:

python - <<'PY'
import hashlib
import json
from pathlib import Path
from click.testing import CliRunner
from rsconnect.main import cli

runner = CliRunner()
with runner.isolated_filesystem():
    project = Path('proj')
    project.mkdir()
    (project / 'report.ipynb').write_text('{"cells":[],"metadata":{},"nbformat":4,"nbformat_minor":5}')
    (project / 'requirements.txt').write_text('voila\n')
    result = runner.invoke(cli, ['write-manifest', 'voila', 'proj'])
    print('no parent requirements:', result.exit_code, result.output.strip())
    Path('requirements.txt').write_text('pandas\n')
    result = runner.invoke(cli, ['write-manifest', 'voila', 'proj'])
    manifest = json.loads((project / 'manifest.json').read_text())
    print('with parent requirements:', result.exit_code)
    print('manifest checksum:', manifest['files']['requirements.txt']['checksum'])
    print('parent checksum:', hashlib.md5(Path('requirements.txt').read_bytes()).hexdigest())
    print('project checksum:', hashlib.md5((project / 'requirements.txt').read_bytes()).hexdigest())
    result = runner.invoke(cli, ['write-manifest', 'voila', 'proj'])
    print('existing project manifest:', result.exit_code, result.output.strip())
PY

Observed: Missing parent requirements caused failure; with parent requirements the manifest checksum matched the parent, and rerunning overwrote the project manifest without permission.
Run: isolated Click CLI reproduction, 2026-10-27.
Commit: b1f5ca2

Notes

No repository AGENTS.md exists; reviewed CLAUDE.md.
Workpad creation tool failed repeatedly; created the workpad with GitHub CLI. The tool does not recognize this comment and reports viewerDidAuthor=false.
Regression tests failed on the original code and revealed that environment inspection also needed a directory-safe path; all 8 focused cases now pass.
Local commit 1a009cfeda4e22dd2d3806b328c4503e478673d8: pytest -q tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py tests/test_environment.py tests/test_bundle.py tests/test_main.py tests/test_write_manifest_pyproject.py passed (310 passed, 10 skipped). ruff format --check rsconnect/main.py tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py, ruff check rsconnect/main.py tests/test_write_manifest_voila.py, and git diff --check passed.
Earlier PR creation and workpad updates failed with host errors; publication now succeeded.
On resume, focused tests passed (8 passed), Ruff formatting and lint passed, and the committed diff remains clean at 1a009cfeda4e22dd2d3806b328c4503e478673d8.
Handoff: PR Fix Voilà manifest directory resolution #890 at 1a009cfeda4e22dd2d3806b328c4503e478673d8; 310 tests passed, 10 skipped, and Ruff and diff checks passed. No unresolved review threads.

Confusions

None.

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write-manifest voila resolves a directory path without a trailing slash to the working directory #886

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write-manifest voila resolves a directory path without a trailing slash to the working directory #886

Description

Steps to reproduce

Cause

Suggested fix

Context

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tdstein commented on Oct 27, 2026

Codex Workpad

Plan

Acceptance Criteria

Validation

Evidence

Reproduction

Notes

Confusions

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