[Bug]: Markdown checklist in file preview can't be checked for files outside the workspace

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Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
62/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
react, typescript
Domain
frontend

Research direction

Start in apps/web/src/components/files/FilePreviewPanel.tsx and trace how readOnly is set for host paths and how onTaskListChange reaches RenderedMarkdownSurface. Then review the checkbox fallback in apps/web/src/components/ChatMarkdown.tsx and the path helper in packages/shared/src/path.ts. Done when host-path checkboxes either work when write scope allows it or clearly show why they are disabled; cover the behavior with a focused test.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Before submitting
  • I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.
  • I included enough detail to reproduce or investigate the problem.
Area

apps/web

Steps to reproduce
  1. Create a Markdown file outside the thread's workspace, e.g. ~/Desktop/notes.md: 
    - [ ] Buy milk
- [ ] Call the bank
  2. Open it in the Files panel, for example by clicking a link to ~/Desktop/notes.md in a chat message.
  3. Switch to the rendered Markdown view.
  4. Click the checkbox next to "Buy milk".
Expected behavior

The checkbox toggles and the file is saved as - [x] Buy milk, as it is for a Markdown file inside the workspace. If the file has to be read-only, the preview should say so. A silently disabled checkbox looks broken.

Actual behavior

The click does nothing. The box stays unchecked, the file stays unchanged, and nothing explains why.

Impact

Minor bug or occasional failure

Version or commit

macOS desktop app 0.1.10-nightly.20261112.4564. Code references are from main @ ee90bdc.

Environment

macOS (Darwin 25.6.0), T3 Code Nightly desktop app.

Diagnosis

The toggle works for files inside the workspace. RenderedMarkdownSurface passes onTaskListChange only when the surface is not read-only, and the Files panel marks it read-only for any host path:

FilePreviewPanel.tsx#L1085-L1086, #L1606

const isHostFile =
  attachment !== undefined || (relativePath !== null && isHostPath(relativePath));
...
readOnly={file.data.truncated || isHostFile || !canWriteFiles}

isHostPath is true for any absolute or ~/ path (packages/shared/src/path.ts#L129). Once onTaskListChange is undefined, ChatMarkdown's input renderer falls back to <input type="checkbox" readOnly> with no other cue (ChatMarkdown.tsx#L1071-L1080). The same thing happens for chat attachments, truncated files, and sessions without filesystem write scope.

Possible fixes:

  • Let task-list toggles write to host-path Markdown files when the environment has filesystem write scope, since the agent can already edit those files.
  • At minimum, when the checkbox is read-only, render it visibly disabled or with a tooltip such as "Read-only: file is outside the workspace" so the click doesn't look broken.

Related but different: #27338 (checkbox state carried over to the wrong row after an edit).

Dominant language
TypeScript
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