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Allow trusted host init scripts to preserve direct-script review

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#2,466 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
java, powershell, python, shell
Domain
developer-experience, security, tooling

Research direction

Start by tracing the built-in shell tool's approval and direct-script review flow alongside the public per-session shell.initScripts API. Compare how Bash and PowerShell host activation scripts are represented, then determine how exact content or trust metadata could be bound to the reviewed action without weakening review for user-controlled or unreadable scripts; done means preserving safe direct-script review for explicitly trusted, updateable host scripts.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

vs-code

Context

VS Code is adopting the public per-session shell.initScripts API so the SDK built-in shell tool can load the user's shell profile and activate the workspace-selected Python environment:

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/pull/332593

Observed behavior

With no init scripts configured, a direct script invocation can be reviewed using the script and interpreter content under the normal permission flow.

When the same session has any host-provided shell.initScripts entry, the direct script invocation instead requires explicit approval because the shell environment can alter the script action.

This is secure as a conservative default, but it means an SDK consumer cannot opt into a known, host-generated activation script without changing approval behavior for otherwise identical direct script commands.

Ask

Please consider a public SDK contract for trusted host-provided init scripts that preserves safe direct-script review when possible.

Possible shapes include:

  • allowing the SDK/runtime to incorporate the exact init-script content into the reviewed action/fingerprint; or
  • adding explicit trust metadata for host-generated init scripts, with a conservative default for existing callers.

The behavior must remain secure when init scripts are user-controlled, mutable, unreadable, or otherwise cannot be bound to the reviewed action.

Consumer requirements

  • Per-session and updateable, matching shell.initScripts.
  • Applies to the built-in shell tool.
  • Does not weaken approval for arbitrary or unbound startup scripts.
  • Works for Bash and PowerShell host activation scripts.
Dominant language
Java
Stars
10.5k
Forks
1.5k
Avg merge
1d 9h
Merged PRs (30d)
130

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