src/agent/runner.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import type { Conversation } from "../db/database";
 import { loadAgentIdentity } from "./identity";
 import { loadDisclawConfig } from "../config/loader";
 import { resolveClaude } from "../runtime/resolve-claude";
+import { sanitizedEnv } from "../runtime/env";
 
 export interface RunAgentOptions {
   workspacePath: string;
@@ -144,13 +145,23 @@ export async function runAgent(options: RunAgentOptions): Promise<string> {
     abortController,
   } = options;
 
-  // Verify the workspace has an agent.yaml (validates it exists)
+  // Verify the workspace has an agent.yaml (validates it exists) and get agent name
-  loadAgentIdentity(workspacePath);
+  const identity = loadAgentIdentity(workspacePath);
 
   const claudeCommand = await resolveClaude();
   const prompt = buildPrompt(userMessage, conversationHistory, channelName);
   const timeoutMs = resolveTimeoutMs();
 
+  // Load config for env_blocklist
+  let envBlocklist: string[] = [];
+  try {
+    const rootDir = path.resolve(__dirname, "../..");
+    const config = loadDisclawConfig(rootDir);
+    envBlocklist = config.env_blocklist;
+  } catch {
+    // Config not available, use empty blocklist
+  }
+
   return new Promise<string>((resolve, reject) => {
     const args = [
       "-p",
@@ -161,11 +172,10 @@ export async function runAgent(options: RunAgentOptions): Promise<string> {
 
     const child = spawn(claudeCommand, args, {
       cwd: workspacePath,
-      env: {
+      env: sanitizedEnv(
-        ...process.env,
+        { DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME: identity.name },
-        // Ensure Claude Code does not prompt for interactive input
+        envBlocklist
-        CI: "true",
+      ),
-      },
       stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"],
       windowsHide: true,
     });

src/config/loader.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import * as fs from "fs";
+import * as os from "os";
 import * as path from "path";
 import * as dotenv from "dotenv";
 import * as YAML from "yaml";
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ export interface DisclawConfig {
   management_channel: string;
   claude_command: string;
   claude_timeout_seconds: number;
+  env_blocklist: string[];
 }
 
 export interface EnvConfig {
@@ -16,6 +18,39 @@ export interface EnvConfig {
   CLAUDE_PATH?: string;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Expands a leading `~` in a path to the user's home directory and resolves
+ * the result to an absolute, normalised path. No shell expansion is used.
+ *
+ * Exported as a pure function so it can be unit-tested independently.
+ */
+export function expandWorkspacesRoot(raw: string, repoRoot: string): string {
+  let expanded = raw;
+
+  if (expanded.startsWith("~")) {
+    expanded = os.homedir() + expanded.slice(1);
+  }
+
+  const resolved = path.resolve(repoRoot, expanded);
+
+  const rel = path.relative(repoRoot, resolved);
+  const isInsideRepo = !rel.startsWith("..") && !path.isAbsolute(rel);
+
+  if (isInsideRepo) {
+    console.warn(
+      "[DisClaw] WARNING: workspaces_root lies inside the DisClaw repository (" +
+        resolved +
+        "). " +
+        "Claude Code walks parent directories and concatenates every CLAUDE.md it finds. " +
+        "A workspace under the repo root will inherit the project CLAUDE.md, " +
+        "leaking DisClaw system instructions into every agent context. " +
+        "Set workspaces_root to a path outside the repository (e.g. ~/.disclaw/workspaces)."
+    );
+  }
+
+  return resolved;
+}
+
 export function loadEnv(rootDir: string): EnvConfig {
   dotenv.config({ path: path.join(rootDir, ".env") });
 
@@ -43,17 +78,15 @@ export function loadDisclawConfig(rootDir: string): DisclawConfig {
   const parsed = YAML.parse(raw) as Partial<DisclawConfig>;
 
   // Apply defaults
+  const rawWorkspacesRoot = parsed.workspaces_root ?? "~/.disclaw/workspaces";
+
   const config: DisclawConfig = {
-    workspaces_root: parsed.workspaces_root ?? "./workspaces",
+    workspaces_root: expandWorkspacesRoot(rawWorkspacesRoot, rootDir),
     management_channel: parsed.management_channel ?? "disclaw",
     claude_command: parsed.claude_command ?? "claude",
     claude_timeout_seconds: parsed.claude_timeout_seconds ?? 120,
+    env_blocklist: parsed.env_blocklist ?? [],
   };
 
-  // Resolve workspaces_root to absolute path relative to project root
-  if (!path.isAbsolute(config.workspaces_root)) {
-    config.workspaces_root = path.resolve(rootDir, config.workspaces_root);
-  }
-
   return config;
 }

src/runtime/env.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/**
+ * Sanitized environment builder for Claude Code child processes.
+ *
+ * Removes secrets from the inherited process environment before passing it to
+ * spawned subprocesses, so an agent cannot exfiltrate credentials via env vars.
+ */
+
+/** Keys that are always removed from the child environment. */
+const STATIC_BLOCKLIST: ReadonlySet<string> = new Set([
+  "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN",
+  "DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET",
+  "DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY",
+]);
+
+/** Pattern for keys that are removed regardless of exact name. */
+const PATTERN_BLOCKLIST = /^(DISCLAW_SECRET_|SECRET_|TOKEN_|API_KEY_?)/i;
+
+/**
+ * Returns a sanitized copy of `process.env` suitable for passing to a spawned
+ * Claude Code child process.
+ *
+ * - Removes all keys in the static blocklist.
+ * - Removes all keys matching the pattern blocklist.
+ * - Sets `CI=true` and `DISCLAW_AGENT=1` as runtime markers.
+ * - Merges `extra` last so callers can inject agent-specific variables
+ *   (e.g. `DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME`) and override any of the defaults.
+ * - Removes any keys listed in `additionalBlocklist` (from `disclaw.yaml`
+ *   `env_blocklist` field) after applying `extra`.
+ *
+ * This function is pure: it never mutates `process.env`.
+ */
+export function sanitizedEnv(
+  extra?: Record<string, string>,
+  additionalBlocklist?: string[]
+): NodeJS.ProcessEnv {
+  // Shallow copy — we only work with string/undefined values from process.env
+  const result: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = { ...process.env };
+
+  // Apply static blocklist
+  for (const key of STATIC_BLOCKLIST) {
+    delete result[key];
+  }
+
+  // Apply pattern blocklist
+  for (const key of Object.keys(result)) {
+    if (PATTERN_BLOCKLIST.test(key)) {
+      delete result[key];
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Set mandatory runtime markers
+  result["CI"] = "true";
+  result["DISCLAW_AGENT"] = "1";
+
+  // Merge caller-supplied extras (may override the defaults above)
+  if (extra) {
+    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(extra)) {
+      result[key] = value;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Apply additional blocklist from disclaw.yaml env_blocklist
+  if (additionalBlocklist) {
+    for (const key of additionalBlocklist) {
+      delete result[key];
+    }
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}

tests/unit/sanitize-env.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
+import { sanitizedEnv } from "../../src/runtime/env";
+
+describe("sanitizedEnv", () => {
+  const originalEnv = process.env;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    // Work with a clean clone so mutations don't bleed between tests
+    process.env = { ...originalEnv };
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    process.env = originalEnv;
+  });
+
+  it("(a) removes DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN from the child environment", () => {
+    process.env["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"] = "secret-bot-token";
+    process.env["DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET"] = "secret-client";
+    process.env["DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY"] = "public-key-value";
+
+    const result = sanitizedEnv();
+
+    expect(result["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY"]).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("(b) removes keys matching pattern blocklist: SECRET_*, TOKEN_*, API_KEY*, DISCLAW_SECRET_*", () => {
+    process.env["SECRET_FOO"] = "foo-value";
+    process.env["TOKEN_BAR"] = "bar-value";
+    process.env["API_KEY_TEST"] = "test-key";
+    process.env["API_KEY"] = "bare-key";
+    process.env["DISCLAW_SECRET_X"] = "x-value";
+
+    const result = sanitizedEnv();
+
+    expect(result["SECRET_FOO"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["TOKEN_BAR"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["API_KEY_TEST"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["API_KEY"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["DISCLAW_SECRET_X"]).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("(c) preserves PATH, HOME, USERPROFILE and other safe env vars", () => {
+    process.env["PATH"] = "/usr/bin:/bin";
+    process.env["HOME"] = "/home/user";
+    process.env["USERPROFILE"] = "C:\\Users\\user";
+    process.env["SOME_SAFE_VAR"] = "safe-value";
+
+    const result = sanitizedEnv();
+
+    expect(result["PATH"]).toBe("/usr/bin:/bin");
+    expect(result["HOME"]).toBe("/home/user");
+    expect(result["USERPROFILE"]).toBe("C:\\Users\\user");
+    expect(result["SOME_SAFE_VAR"]).toBe("safe-value");
+  });
+
+  it("(c) sets CI=true and DISCLAW_AGENT=1 as mandatory markers", () => {
+    const result = sanitizedEnv();
+
+    expect(result["CI"]).toBe("true");
+    expect(result["DISCLAW_AGENT"]).toBe("1");
+  });
+
+  it("(d) extra parameter overrides defaults and adds new keys", () => {
+    process.env["SOME_KEY"] = "original";
+
+    const result = sanitizedEnv({
+      DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME: "my-agent",
+      CI: "false", // override the mandatory default
+      EXTRA_CUSTOM: "custom-value",
+    });
+
+    expect(result["DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME"]).toBe("my-agent");
+    expect(result["CI"]).toBe("false");
+    expect(result["EXTRA_CUSTOM"]).toBe("custom-value");
+    // Keys not in extra are still present
+    expect(result["SOME_KEY"]).toBe("original");
+  });
+
+  it("(e) additionalBlocklist removes the specified keys after extras are merged", () => {
+    process.env["MY_INTERNAL_SECRET"] = "internal";
+    process.env["ANOTHER_KEY"] = "another";
+
+    const result = sanitizedEnv(
+      { DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME: "test-agent" },
+      ["MY_INTERNAL_SECRET", "ANOTHER_KEY"]
+    );
+
+    expect(result["MY_INTERNAL_SECRET"]).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(result["ANOTHER_KEY"]).toBeUndefined();
+    // Extras and standard vars should still be present
+    expect(result["DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME"]).toBe("test-agent");
+    expect(result["CI"]).toBe("true");
+  });
+
+  it("does not mutate process.env", () => {
+    process.env["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"] = "sensitive";
+    const tokenBefore = process.env["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"];
+
+    sanitizedEnv({ DISCLAW_AGENT_NAME: "agent" }, ["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"]);
+
+    // process.env must be unchanged
+    expect(process.env["DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"]).toBe(tokenBefore);
+  });
+});