CLI: data loss when updating symlinked files

[jtackaberry]

Before opening, please confirm:

• I have searched for duplicate or closed issues

Operating System

Ubuntu 24.04

Kiro Version

2.2.1

Bug Description

The glob tool doesn't see symlinks, but read and write tools do. So if you instruct the agent to perform a file update to a file that's a symlink and it decides to run glob first, it will think the file doesn't exist and it needs to create it. Consequently it won't bother attempting a read, but will instead call the write tool, which follows the symlink and clobber all existing data.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a new project directory and cd into it
2. Run:

   echo 'This is my precious data' > file.md
   ln -s file.md README.md

3. Run kiro-cli:

    kiro-cli chat "Edit README.md in the current directory and add a new section that simply shows the current date and time"

Example output:

● Glob "README.md"
  No files found matching pattern: README.md
● Write /home/me/tmp/kirotest/file.md
     1   ## Current Date and Time
     2
     3   Tuesday, 2026-05-05 11:02:01 EDT

  README.md didn't exist, so I created it with the current date and time section.

file.md is now missing "my precious data"

Expected Behavior

The glob tool should include symlinks because the read and write tools (quite reasonably) follow them. This will cause the agent to see the existing file and attempt to modify it instead of clobbering it.

Conversation ID

No response

Additional Context

No response

[github-actions]

🤖 Potential Duplicate Detected

This issue appears to be similar to:

• #6401: Kiro IDE does not follow symlinks in ~/.kiro/skills/ — symlinked skills not available to agent (85% similar)

What happens next?

• ⏰ This issue will be automatically closed in 3 days
• 🏷️ If this is not a duplicate, you can prevent automatic closure by adding a comment or reacting with 👎 to this message.
• 💬 Comment on the original issue if you have additional information

Why is this marked as duplicate?
Both issues report problems with Kiro not following symlinks - the new issue describes CLI tools not handling symlinks consistently, while #6401 reports IDE not following symlinks in ~/.kiro/skills/. Same core problem of symlink handling across different Kiro components.

[jtackaberry]

Not a duplicate. Other issue is about symlinks but otherwise unrelated. Maybe they have the same underlying root cause, but maybe not. That needs to be assessed.

[github-actions]

Thank you for your feedback! 🙏

The duplicate label has been removed and this issue has been sent back for maintainer review.

A maintainer will review this issue shortly.