fix: task_create ENOENT on missing project dir (0.28.2) (#58)

project_hash::from_path canonicalized the project dir as its first op, and
canonicalize returns ENOENT when the path does not exist yet. A Loom task
session whose worktree wasn't checked out failed task_create before writing
anything. On NotFound, fall back to std::path::absolute (no filesystem
access); other canonicalize errors still propagate.

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: Shahinyanm

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,17 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.28.2] - 2026-06-18
+
+### Fixed
+- **`task_create` ENOENT on first use in a Loom session.** Project-path
+  resolution (`project_hash::from_path`) canonicalized the project directory,
+  and `canonicalize` returns "No such file or directory" when the path does
+  not exist yet — so a task session whose worktree wasn't checked out failed
+  before writing anything, even though the data directory existed. When the
+  path is merely absent, resolution now falls back to a lexical absolutisation
+  that touches no filesystem; other canonicalize errors still propagate.
+
 ## [0.28.1] - 2026-06-18
 
 ### Fixed

Cargo.lock

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ members = [
 ]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.28.1"
+version = "0.28.2"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.88"
 license = "MIT"

Cargo.toml

@@ -32,8 +32,21 @@ pub fn project_root(start: &Path) -> PathBuf {
 }
 
 pub fn from_path(p: impl AsRef<Path>) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
-    let canonical = dunce::canonicalize(p.as_ref())
-        .with_context(|| format!("canonicalize {:?}", p.as_ref()))?;
+    let p = p.as_ref();
+    // `canonicalize` requires the path to EXIST — it returns ENOENT ("No such
+    // file or directory") otherwise. A Loom task session can resolve its
+    // project dir before the worktree is checked out, which made `task_create`
+    // hard-fail on its very first path resolution. When the path is merely
+    // absent (not a permission/other error), fall back to a lexical
+    // absolutisation that touches no filesystem, so journal resolution still
+    // works instead of erroring.
+    let canonical = match dunce::canonicalize(p) {
+        Ok(c) => c,
+        Err(e) if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => {
+            std::path::absolute(p).unwrap_or_else(|_| p.to_path_buf())
+        }
+        Err(e) => return Err(e).with_context(|| format!("canonicalize {p:?}")),
+    };
     let root = project_root(&canonical);
     let bytes = root.as_os_str().as_encoded_bytes();
     let mut h = Sha256::new();
@@ -58,6 +71,19 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(a.len(), 16, "16 hex chars expected, got: {a}");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn nonexistent_path_falls_back_instead_of_erroring() {
+        // Regression: `from_path` used to ENOENT on a path that doesn't exist
+        // yet (canonicalize requires existence), which made task_create
+        // hard-fail in a Loom session whose worktree wasn't checked out.
+        let base = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+        let missing = base.path().join("not/created/yet");
+        let h = from_path(&missing).expect("must not fail on a missing path");
+        assert_eq!(h.len(), 16);
+        // Deterministic for the same absent path.
+        assert_eq!(h, from_path(&missing).unwrap());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn different_paths_yield_different_hashes() {
         let d1 = TempDir::new().unwrap();

crates/tj-core/src/project_hash.rs

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "task-journal",
-  "version": "0.28.1",
+  "version": "0.28.2",
   "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains: hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence. Renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Mher Shahinyan"