From f87e9ca1f82a72d50440746c487afb01f3904060 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kajetanma <kajetan@biangle.digital>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:58:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(gbrain): honor GBRAIN_HOME as workspace root, not state
 dir
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gstack-gbrain-detect, gbrain-local-status.ts, and gbrain-exec.ts all
resolved GBRAIN_HOME/config.json when GBRAIN_HOME was set, but fell
back to $HOME/.gbrain/config.json (nested) when unset. The real
gbrain CLI always nests state under a .gbrain dir inside GBRAIN_HOME
regardless — confirmed empirically, pointing GBRAIN_HOME straight at
the .gbrain dir breaks the CLI with "No brain configured".

Net effect for any relocated-GBRAIN_HOME setup: gstack-gbrain-detect
always reported gbrain_config_exists:false and gbrain_local_status
"missing-config" even with a fully working gbrain install, and
buildGbrainEnv silently never seeded DATABASE_URL for spawned gbrain
calls. Every /sync-gbrain and /setup-gbrain invocation hit this.

Fix: always join GBRAIN_HOME (or the userHome fallback) with ".gbrain"
before appending "config.json", in all three places.
---
 bin/gstack-gbrain-detect   | 10 +++++++++-
 lib/gbrain-exec.ts         |  7 ++++++-
 lib/gbrain-local-status.ts | 12 ++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bin/gstack-gbrain-detect b/bin/gstack-gbrain-detect
index 2100f913b..8253fe796 100755
--- a/bin/gstack-gbrain-detect
+++ b/bin/gstack-gbrain-detect
@@ -51,8 +51,16 @@ const CONFIG_BIN = join(SCRIPT_DIR, "gstack-config");
 // Honors GBRAIN_HOME — must stay consistent with lib/gbrain-local-status's
 // config resolution, or the detect JSON reports gbrain_local_status "ok"
 // alongside gbrain_config_exists false for relocated-home users.
+// The real `gbrain` CLI always nests state under a `.gbrain` dir inside
+// GBRAIN_HOME (GBRAIN_HOME is the workspace root, not the state dir itself —
+// confirmed empirically: pointing GBRAIN_HOME straight at the `.gbrain` dir
+// breaks the CLI with "No brain configured"). This used to join GBRAIN_HOME
+// directly with "config.json" when set, only adding the nested ".gbrain" in
+// the unset/default-to-userHome fallback — a relocated-GBRAIN_HOME user
+// always got a false gbrain_config_exists:false.
 const GBRAIN_CONFIG = join(
-  process.env.GBRAIN_HOME || join(userHome(), ".gbrain"),
+  process.env.GBRAIN_HOME || userHome(),
+  ".gbrain",
   "config.json",
 );
 const CLAUDE_JSON = join(userHome(), ".claude.json");
diff --git a/lib/gbrain-exec.ts b/lib/gbrain-exec.ts
index 0cb1ddc57..1dc64972a 100644
--- a/lib/gbrain-exec.ts
+++ b/lib/gbrain-exec.ts
@@ -98,8 +98,13 @@ export function buildGbrainEnv(opts: BuildGbrainEnvOptions = {}): NodeJS.Process
   const out: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = { ...baseEnv };
   if (baseEnv.GSTACK_RESPECT_ENV_DATABASE_URL === "1") return out;
 
+  // GBRAIN_HOME is the workspace root; the real `gbrain` CLI always nests
+  // its state under a `.gbrain` dir inside it (confirmed empirically —
+  // pointing GBRAIN_HOME straight at `.gbrain` breaks the CLI). This used
+  // to join GBRAIN_HOME directly with "config.json", silently failing to
+  // seed DATABASE_URL for any relocated-GBRAIN_HOME user.
   const homeBase = baseEnv.HOME || homedir();
-  const gbrainHome = baseEnv.GBRAIN_HOME || join(homeBase, ".gbrain");
+  const gbrainHome = join(baseEnv.GBRAIN_HOME || homeBase, ".gbrain");
   const configPath = join(gbrainHome, "config.json");
   if (!existsSync(configPath)) return out;
 
diff --git a/lib/gbrain-local-status.ts b/lib/gbrain-local-status.ts
index 2b6caa780..7b4683628 100644
--- a/lib/gbrain-local-status.ts
+++ b/lib/gbrain-local-status.ts
@@ -114,10 +114,18 @@ export function cacheFilePath(): string {
   );
 }
 
-/** Honors GBRAIN_HOME (codex D11) — same resolution as buildGbrainEnv. */
+/**
+ * Honors GBRAIN_HOME (codex D11) — same resolution as buildGbrainEnv.
+ * GBRAIN_HOME is the workspace root; the real `gbrain` CLI always nests its
+ * state under a `.gbrain` dir inside it (confirmed empirically — pointing
+ * GBRAIN_HOME straight at `.gbrain` breaks the CLI). This used to join
+ * GBRAIN_HOME directly with "config.json" when set, only nesting under
+ * ".gbrain" in the unset/default fallback — a relocated-GBRAIN_HOME user
+ * always got a false gbrain_config_exists:false.
+ */
 function gbrainConfigPath(env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): string {
   const e = env ?? process.env;
-  const gbrainHome = e.GBRAIN_HOME || join(userHome(e), ".gbrain");
+  const gbrainHome = join(e.GBRAIN_HOME || userHome(e), ".gbrain");
   return join(gbrainHome, "config.json");
 }