diff --git a/dist/src/agents/connector.d.ts b/dist/src/agents/connector.d.ts
index e171759..3791989 100644
--- a/dist/src/agents/connector.d.ts
+++ b/dist/src/agents/connector.d.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ export interface ToolDefinition {
 export declare class AgentConnector {
     private core;
     private config;
+    private client;
     constructor(core: CoreEngine, config?: {
         provider?: string;
         apiKey?: string;
diff --git a/dist/src/agents/connector.js b/dist/src/agents/connector.js
index d1c7aed..5f9b86d 100644
--- a/dist/src/agents/connector.js
+++ b/dist/src/agents/connector.js
@@ -1,14 +1,53 @@
 "use strict";
+var __createBinding = (this && this.__createBinding) || (Object.create ? (function(o, m, k, k2) {
+    if (k2 === undefined) k2 = k;
+    var desc = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(m, k);
+    if (!desc || ("get" in desc ? !m.__esModule : desc.writable || desc.configurable)) {
+      desc = { enumerable: true, get: function() { return m[k]; } };
+    }
+    Object.defineProperty(o, k2, desc);
+}) : (function(o, m, k, k2) {
+    if (k2 === undefined) k2 = k;
+    o[k2] = m[k];
+}));
+var __setModuleDefault = (this && this.__setModuleDefault) || (Object.create ? (function(o, v) {
+    Object.defineProperty(o, "default", { enumerable: true, value: v });
+}) : function(o, v) {
+    o["default"] = v;
+});
+var __importStar = (this && this.__importStar) || (function () {
+    var ownKeys = function(o) {
+        ownKeys = Object.getOwnPropertyNames || function (o) {
+            var ar = [];
+            for (var k in o) if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(o, k)) ar[ar.length] = k;
+            return ar;
+        };
+        return ownKeys(o);
+    };
+    return function (mod) {
+        if (mod && mod.__esModule) return mod;
+        var result = {};
+        if (mod != null) for (var k = ownKeys(mod), i = 0; i < k.length; i++) if (k[i] !== "default") __createBinding(result, mod, k[i]);
+        __setModuleDefault(result, mod);
+        return result;
+    };
+})();
 var __importDefault = (this && this.__importDefault) || function (mod) {
     return (mod && mod.__esModule) ? mod : { "default": mod };
 };
 Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", { value: true });
 exports.AgentConnector = void 0;
 const axios_1 = __importDefault(require("axios"));
+const https = __importStar(require("https"));
 class AgentConnector {
     constructor(core, config = {}) {
         this.core = core;
         this.config = config;
+        // Optimize repeated API calls by enabling keep-alive for HTTP/HTTPS connections.
+        // This avoids expensive TCP/TLS handshakes (~100-200ms per request) on consecutive LLM calls.
+        this.client = axios_1.default.create({
+            httpsAgent: new https.Agent({ keepAlive: true })
+        });
     }
     /**
      * Standard protocol to expose oneshotsx tools to any LLM
@@ -39,7 +78,7 @@ class AgentConnector {
             return "Agent running in simulation mode. No API key provided.";
         }
         try {
-            const response = await axios_1.default.post('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions', {
+            const response = await this.client.post('https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions', {
                 model: 'meta-llama/llama-3.1-70b-instruct',
                 messages: [{ role: 'user', content: message }]
             }, {
diff --git a/dist/src/tools/index.d.ts b/dist/src/tools/index.d.ts
index f6fbbb5..0ede48c 100644
--- a/dist/src/tools/index.d.ts
+++ b/dist/src/tools/index.d.ts
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ export declare class ShellTool {
 export declare class FileTool {
     private core;
     constructor(core: CoreEngine);
-    read(path: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<string>>;
-    write(path: string, content: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<void>>;
-    patch(path: string, search: string, replace: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<void>>;
+    private resolveAndValidatePath;
+    read(unsafePath: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<string>>;
+    write(unsafePath: string, content: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<void>>;
+    patch(unsafePath: string, search: string, replace: string): Promise<ExecutionResult<void>>;
 }
 export declare class SearchTool {
     private core;
diff --git a/dist/src/tools/index.js b/dist/src/tools/index.js
index e8ea37b..b7a8080 100644
--- a/dist/src/tools/index.js
+++ b/dist/src/tools/index.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ exports.SearchTool = exports.FileTool = exports.ShellTool = void 0;
 const child_process_1 = require("child_process");
 const util_1 = require("util");
 const fs = __importStar(require("fs/promises"));
+const path = __importStar(require("path"));
 const execAsync = (0, util_1.promisify)(child_process_1.exec);
 class ShellTool {
     constructor(core) {
@@ -55,23 +56,37 @@ class FileTool {
     constructor(core) {
         this.core = core;
     }
-    async read(path) {
-        this.core.log(`Reading file: ${path}`);
-        return this.core.execute(() => fs.readFile(path, 'utf-8'));
+    resolveAndValidatePath(unsafePath) {
+        const resolvedPath = path.resolve(process.cwd(), unsafePath);
+        if (!resolvedPath.startsWith(process.cwd() + path.sep) && resolvedPath !== process.cwd()) {
+            throw new Error('Access denied: Invalid path');
+        }
+        return resolvedPath;
     }
-    async write(path, content) {
-        this.core.log(`Writing file: ${path}`);
-        return this.core.execute(() => fs.writeFile(path, content));
+    async read(unsafePath) {
+        this.core.log(`Reading file: ${unsafePath}`);
+        return this.core.execute(() => {
+            const safePath = this.resolveAndValidatePath(unsafePath);
+            return fs.readFile(safePath, 'utf-8');
+        });
+    }
+    async write(unsafePath, content) {
+        this.core.log(`Writing file: ${unsafePath}`);
+        return this.core.execute(() => {
+            const safePath = this.resolveAndValidatePath(unsafePath);
+            return fs.writeFile(safePath, content);
+        });
     }
-    async patch(path, search, replace) {
-        this.core.log(`Patching file: ${path}`);
+    async patch(unsafePath, search, replace) {
+        this.core.log(`Patching file: ${unsafePath}`);
         return this.core.execute(async () => {
-            const content = await fs.readFile(path, 'utf-8');
+            const safePath = this.resolveAndValidatePath(unsafePath);
+            const content = await fs.readFile(safePath, 'utf-8');
             const newContent = content.replace(search, replace);
             if (content === newContent) {
-                throw new Error(`Search string not found in ${path}`);
+                throw new Error(`Search string not found in file`);
             }
-            await fs.writeFile(path, newContent);
+            await fs.writeFile(safePath, newContent);
         });
     }
 }
diff --git a/test.txt b/test.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4086f10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+hello oneshotsx
\ No newline at end of file