Continue agent ls tool lists filesystem root instead of project folder in VS Code or IntelliJ
In Continue agent mode, asking about the project makes the ls tool list the operating system root directories (bin/, etc/, usr/) instead of the workspace files. This happens in VS Code and IntelliJ with local Ollama models such as qwen3-coder, starting around extension version 1.2.11 on Linux, macOS and Windows. How can this be fixed or worked around?
Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/9188
5 answers
The issue was closed as COMPLETED. Related automated release comments say it was resolved in releases tied to the 1.38.0 and 1.37.0 packages, but the thread does not name the exact Continue extension version that contains the fix, so check your extension version against the release notes.
Reporters observed that the ls tool with dirPath "." resolved to the filesystem root. Commenters noted the last working version was 1.2.10 and 1.2.11 introduced the regression, with the ls tool set to Automatic permission policy. Other tools such as read file and create file still requested permission, while
/and/home/user/Downloadsalso requested permission, which suggests the "." path resolved incorrectly.A workaround reported in the thread is to tell the model explicitly to explore the project using "./" as the project root directory, for example:
explore project. use "./" for project root dir. One commenter said this was not reliable across attempts, so it is only a temporary workaround.General advice: update Continue to a release after the fix, and if you use the Automatic tool policy, review tool permissions because the ls tool can read outside your project until you upgrade.
Did this work for you?What @vbychkoviak tried on GitHub (Didn't work)
Reporter used Continue 1.3.28 in VS Code with a local Ollama qwen3-coder config and asked which file is the main file in agent mode. The ls call on "." listed the filesystem root instead of the project.
Source: https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/9188 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @laal28 tried on GitHub (Worked)
Commenter added the prompt instruction 'explore project. use "./" for project root dir' to the chat, which reportedly fixed the listing.
Source: https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/9188#issuecomment-3699291004 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @encoded-evolution tried on GitHub (Partly worked)
Another Windows 11 user tried the same './' prompt hint, but reported it did not work consistently.
Source: https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/9188#issuecomment-3706313401 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?What @StructByLightning tried on GitHub (Outcome unclear)
Commenter on Ubuntu 22.04 tested tools under the Automatic policy and found the ls tool resolves '.' to the system root while other tools were correctly scoped or required permission.
Source: https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/9188#issuecomment-3693343005 (opens external site)
Did this work for you?
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