Locate Missing Artifacts in Sandboxed Environments

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• A tool reports success but files are not found in their expected locations
• You receive errors like "file not found" after a tool claims to have created it
• You're working in a sandboxed/ephemeral environment where file paths may shift
• Directory structure mismatches occur between tool execution and validation

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Confirm the Failure

Before searching, verify the file is actually missing from the expected location:

ls -la /expected/path/filename.ext
# or
test -f /expected/path/filename.ext && echo "Found" || echo "Missing"

Step 2: Identify Confirmed Root Directories

Determine which directories you know exist and where tools typically write:

# Common roots to check
ls -la /
ls -la $HOME
ls -la /tmp
ls -la /workspace
ls -la .

Step 3: Search for the Artifact Using find

Use find from confirmed root directories to locate the missing file:

# Search by filename
find /workspace -name "filename.ext" 2>/dev/null

# Search by pattern if exact name varies
find /workspace -name "*.ext" 2>/dev/null

# Search broader paths if needed
find / -name "filename.ext" 2>/dev/null | head -20

Step 4: Copy Artifact to Expected Location

Once located, explicitly copy the file to where it should be:

# Copy to expected location
cp /found/path/filename.ext /expected/path/filename.ext

# Or if you need to preserve the original
cp -r /found/path/filename.ext /expected/path/

# Verify the copy succeeded
ls -la /expected/path/filename.ext

Step 5: Validate Before Proceeding

Confirm the file is now accessible at the expected location:

# Test file exists and is readable
test -f /expected/path/filename.ext && test -r /expected/path/filename.ext && echo "Ready"

# Check file size to ensure it's not empty
stat /expected/path/filename.ext

Common Patterns

Pattern: Output Written to Wrong Directory

# Tool wrote to current directory instead of specified output dir
find . -name "*.docx" -type f
cp ./report.docx ./output/report.docx

Pattern: Temporary Directory Used

# File ended up in /tmp or similar
find /tmp -name "*.pdf" -mtime -1
cp /tmp/generated.pdf ./deliverables/

Pattern: Nested Subdirectory Created

# Tool created extra directory levels
find /workspace -type f -name "*.xlsx"
# May find: /workspace/output/2024/reports/file.xlsx
cp /workspace/output/2024/reports/file.xlsx /workspace/deliverables/

Prevention Tips

1. Always specify absolute paths when giving tools output locations
2. Check the working directory before and after tool execution: pwd
3. Verify immediately after a tool reports success before proceeding
4. Use tool-specific confirmations when available (e.g., return paths)

Example: Complete Recovery Workflow

# 1. Tool reported creating report.docx but it's missing
ls ./deliverables/report.docx
# Output: ls: cannot access './deliverables/report.docx': No such file or directory

# 2. Search for it
find /workspace -name "report.docx" 2>/dev/null
# Output: /workspace/tmp/generated/report.docx

# 3. Copy to expected location
mkdir -p ./deliverables
cp /workspace/tmp/generated/report.docx ./deliverables/report.docx

# 4. Validate
ls -la ./deliverables/report.docx
# Output: -rw-r--r-- 1 user user 45678 Jan 15 10:30 ./deliverables/report.docx

# Success - file is now where it should be

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
find returns no results	Expand search to broader paths (/, /home, /root)
Multiple matches found	Check timestamps (-mtime -1) or file sizes to identify the correct one
Permission denied on copy	Use sudo if available, or check if file is in a read-only mount
File exists but is empty	The tool may have failed silently; regenerate the artifact