fix: correctly resolve output_folder paths outside project root (#2132)

* fix(bmad-init): correctly resolve output_folder paths outside project root

  When output_folder was set to an absolute path (e.g. /Users/me/outputs),
  the {project-root}/{value} result template stored it as
  {project-root}//absolute/path. resolve_project_root_placeholder then did
  a naive string replace, producing /project//absolute/path — a broken path
  that workflows could not resolve.

  For relative paths outside the root (e.g. ../../sibling), the same naive
  replace left un-normalized paths like /project/../../sibling in the
  resolved config, which some tools mishandled.

  Fix resolve_project_root_placeholder to strip the {project-root} token,
  detect whether the remainder is absolute (returning it directly) or
  relative (joining with project root and normalizing via os.path.normpath).

  Fix apply_result_template to skip the template entirely when raw_value is
  already an absolute path, and to normalize the result for relative-but-
  outside paths. This covers the bmad-init SKILL write path, which bakes
  the resolved path directly into config.yaml.

  Add 7 tests covering all three path cases (absolute, relative-with-
  traversal, normal in-project) for both functions.

* Address review comments

---------

Co-authored-by: Akhilesh Tyagi <akhilesh.t@nextiva.com>
Co-authored-by: Brian <bmadcode@gmail.com>

Author: 3 people

docs/how-to/non-interactive-installation.md

@@ -37,7 +37,19 @@ Requires [Node.js](https://nodejs.org) v20+ and `npx` (included with npm).
 | `--user-name <name>` | Name for agents to use | System username |
 | `--communication-language <lang>` | Agent communication language | English |
 | `--document-output-language <lang>` | Document output language | English |
-| `--output-folder <path>` | Output folder path | _bmad-output |
+| `--output-folder <path>` | Output folder path (see resolution rules below) | `_bmad-output` |
+
+#### Output Folder Path Resolution
+
+The value passed to `--output-folder` (or entered interactively) is resolved according to these rules:
+
+| Input type | Example | Resolved as |
+|------------|---------|-------------|
+| Relative path (default) | `_bmad-output` | `<project-root>/_bmad-output` |
+| Relative path with traversal | `../../shared-outputs` | Normalized absolute path — e.g. `/Users/me/shared-outputs` |
+| Absolute path | `/Users/me/shared-outputs` | Used as-is — project root is **not** prepended |
+
+The resolved path is what agents and workflows use at runtime when writing output files. Using an absolute path or a traversal-based relative path lets you direct all generated artifacts to a directory outside your project tree — useful for shared or monorepo setups.
 
 ### Other Options
 
@@ -141,6 +153,7 @@ Invalid values will either:
 
 :::tip[Best Practices]
 - Use absolute paths for `--directory` to avoid ambiguity
+- Use an absolute path for `--output-folder` when you want artifacts written outside the project tree (e.g. a shared monorepo outputs directory)
 - Test flags locally before using in CI/CD pipelines
 - Combine with `-y` for truly unattended installations
 - Use `--debug` if you encounter issues during installation

src/core-skills/bmad-init/scripts/bmad_init.py

@@ -166,9 +166,27 @@ def resolve_project_root_placeholder(value, project_root):
     """Replace {project-root} placeholder with actual path."""
     if not value or not isinstance(value, str):
         return value
-    if '{project-root}' in value:
-        return value.replace('{project-root}', str(project_root))
-    return value
+    if '{project-root}' not in value:
+        return value
+
+    # Strip the {project-root} token to inspect what remains, so we can
+    # correctly handle absolute paths stored as "{project-root}//absolute/path"
+    # (produced by the "{project-root}/{value}" template applied to an absolute value).
+    suffix = value.replace('{project-root}', '', 1)
+
+    # Strip the one path separator that follows the token (if any)
+    if suffix.startswith('/') or suffix.startswith('\\'):
+        remainder = suffix[1:]
+    else:
+        remainder = suffix
+
+    if os.path.isabs(remainder):
+        # The original value was an absolute path stored with a {project-root}/ prefix.
+        # Return the absolute path directly — no joining needed.
+        return remainder
+
+    # Relative path: join with project root and normalize to resolve any .. segments.
+    return os.path.normpath(os.path.join(str(project_root), remainder))
 
 
 def parse_var_specs(vars_string):
@@ -222,9 +240,22 @@ def apply_result_template(var_def, raw_value, context):
     if not result_template:
         return raw_value
 
+    # If the user supplied an absolute path and the template would prefix it with
+    # "{project-root}/", skip the template entirely to avoid producing a broken path
+    # like "/my/project//absolute/path".
+    if isinstance(raw_value, str) and os.path.isabs(raw_value):
+        return raw_value
+
     ctx = dict(context)
     ctx['value'] = raw_value
-    return expand_template(result_template, ctx)
+    result = expand_template(result_template, ctx)
+
+    # Normalize the resulting path to resolve any ".." segments (e.g. when the user
+    # entered a relative path such as "../../outside-dir").
+    if isinstance(result, str) and '{' not in result and os.path.isabs(result):
+        result = os.path.normpath(result)
+
+    return result
 
 
 # =============================================================================

src/core-skills/bmad-init/scripts/tests/test_bmad_init.py

@@ -110,6 +110,37 @@ def test_none(self):
     def test_non_string(self):
         self.assertEqual(resolve_project_root_placeholder(42, Path('/test')), 42)
 
+    def test_absolute_path_stored_with_prefix(self):
+        """Absolute output_folder entered by user is stored as '{project-root}//abs/path'
+        by the '{project-root}/{value}' template. It must resolve to '/abs/path', not
+        '/project//abs/path'."""
+        result = resolve_project_root_placeholder(
+            '{project-root}//Users/me/outside', Path('/Users/me/myproject')
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/Users/me/outside')
+
+    def test_relative_path_with_traversal_is_normalized(self):
+        """A relative path like '../../sibling' produces '{project-root}/../../sibling'
+        after the template. It must resolve to the normalized absolute path, not the
+        un-normalized string '/project/../../sibling'."""
+        result = resolve_project_root_placeholder(
+            '{project-root}/../../sibling', Path('/Users/me/myproject')
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/Users/sibling')
+
+    def test_relative_path_one_level_up(self):
+        result = resolve_project_root_placeholder(
+            '{project-root}/../outside-outputs', Path('/project/root')
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/project/outside-outputs')
+
+    def test_standard_relative_path_unchanged(self):
+        """Normal in-project relative paths continue to work correctly."""
+        result = resolve_project_root_placeholder(
+            '{project-root}/_bmad-output', Path('/project/root')
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/project/root/_bmad-output')
+
 
 class TestExpandTemplate(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -147,6 +178,39 @@ def test_value_only_template(self):
         result = apply_result_template(var_def, 'English', {})
         self.assertEqual(result, 'English')
 
+    def test_absolute_value_skips_project_root_template(self):
+        """When the user enters an absolute path, the '{project-root}/{value}' template
+        must not be applied — doing so would produce '/project//absolute/path'."""
+        var_def = {'result': '{project-root}/{value}'}
+        result = apply_result_template(
+            var_def, '/Users/me/shared-outputs', {'project-root': '/Users/me/myproject'}
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/Users/me/shared-outputs')
+
+    def test_relative_traversal_value_is_normalized(self):
+        """A relative path like '../../outside' combined with the project-root template
+        must produce a clean normalized absolute path, not '/project/../../outside'."""
+        var_def = {'result': '{project-root}/{value}'}
+        result = apply_result_template(
+            var_def, '../../outside-dir', {'project-root': '/Users/me/myproject'}
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/Users/outside-dir')
+
+    def test_relative_one_level_up_is_normalized(self):
+        var_def = {'result': '{project-root}/{value}'}
+        result = apply_result_template(
+            var_def, '../sibling-outputs', {'project-root': '/project/root'}
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/project/sibling-outputs')
+
+    def test_normal_relative_value_unchanged(self):
+        """Standard in-project relative paths still produce the expected joined path."""
+        var_def = {'result': '{project-root}/{value}'}
+        result = apply_result_template(
+            var_def, '_bmad-output', {'project-root': '/project/root'}
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(result, '/project/root/_bmad-output')
+
 
 class TestLoadModuleYaml(unittest.TestCase):