[earakely-scale]

Why. pi and OpenHands, installed into a task container by install_agent, work in /workspace, not the container's working directory. Each start.sh changes to its install folder, and the agent falls back to its image's /workspace. So a task whose files live in the container's WORKDIR is invisible to them. Claude Code works in the container's working directory.

#314's e2e found this: --agent pi installed pi into a Debian task container whose WORKDIR is /workspace/task_repo, and pi answered "The file /workspace/notes.txt does not exist". A task that names pi in install_agent hits the same thing.

Change

• Each start.sh (install only) names the directory it was started in as the workspace, unless that's /.
  • docker exec starts it in the container's working directory.
  • It's passed as PI_A2A_WORKSPACE / OPENHANDS_A2A_WORKSPACE. OpenHands' a2a_server.py already read its variable; pi's now reads its own the same way.
• Image deploys are unchanged: the variable is unset there, so both keep /workspace.
• The READMEs say where each agent works.
• Both agent folders change, so the next release builds and publishes one new pi image and one new OpenHands image (ci(release): build an agent's image only when its folder changes #309).
• Not changed: Codex's install gives its CLI /app as its workspace, which its README documents. The e2e below shows what that means for the same task.

Tests

• tst/unit/agents/test_installed_workspace.py runs each agent's real start.sh, with a stub server that records the workspace it would get:
  • started in a task directory, it gets that directory;
  • started at /, it gets none, so the image default applies.
• test_a2a_server_serves_the_workspace_its_environment_names: pi's server takes the variable, and /workspace without it.
• The unit tier passes, and the plugin API check reports no break.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge.

Summary

Installed pi and OpenHands agents now use the directory where start.sh begins, unless it is /.

• Installed pi and OpenHands use the task container’s working directory.

_{Reviews (1) · Last reviewed commit: "fix(agents): pi and OpenHands installed ..." · Reviewed by Greptile}

[earakely-scale]

End to end at 4717896 on one m5.2xlarge (linux/amd64) admin VM.

• Setup: a clean venv with this branch's wheels, LiteLLM, each case in its own store.
• The task: install_agent naming no agent installs --agent <x> into a Debian task container whose WORKDIR is /workspace/task_repo. The prompt says "Read the file notes.txt in your working directory"; the check wants notes-from-the-task.
• pi and OpenHands ran from images built on the VM from this branch's sources. Codex and Claude Code pulled their published images.

Case	Model	Result
--agent pi, installed	claude-haiku-5-5	passed: notes-from-the-task (before this PR: "The file /workspace/notes.txt does not exist")
--agent openhands, installed	claude-haiku-5-5	passed: notes-from-the-task
Claude Code, installed as written	claude-haiku-5-5	passed: notes-from-the-task (the behavior the two now match)
--agent pi, from its image (smoke task)	claude-haiku-5-5	passed
--agent openhands, from its image (smoke task)	claude-haiku-5-5	passed
--agent codex, from its image (smoke task)	gpt-5.4-mini	passed (23 s). The dry run resolves the alias to @local/agentenv-framework/agents/codex and its published image
--agent codex, installed (unchanged by this PR)	gpt-5.4-mini	scored 0: "notes.txt is not present in the current working directory (/app)". This is the /app workspace its install gives the CLI

No containers were left behind, and the results contain no secret text. The VM, security group and key pair are deleted.