Windows File Management Best Practices

When operating as an autonomous agent or writing code that executes in a Windows shell (like PowerShell), you MUST follow these rules to avoid syntax errors and failed executions.

1. Avoid Unix-specific Shell Commands

Do NOT use Unix-specific syntax in bash/shell commands:

• ❌ mkdir -p folder/subfolder -> PowerShell does not support -p.
• ❌ rm -rf folder -> PowerShell does not support -rf.
• ❌ touch file.txt -> PowerShell does not have touch.
• ❌ cmd1 && cmd2 -> PowerShell older versions do not support &&. Use ; instead.

2. Use PowerShell Equivalents

When executing shell commands on Windows:

• ✅ Create Directory: New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "folder/subfolder" (or simply mkdir folder/subfolder which natively creates parents in PowerShell).
• ✅ Remove Directory: Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "folder"
• ✅ Create Empty File: New-Item -ItemType File -Force -Path "file.txt"
• ✅ Chain Commands: cmd1 ; cmd2

3. Prefer Python (os / pathlib)

Whenever possible, instead of executing shell commands, write a Python script using standard libraries. It is inherently cross-platform.

• Create folders:

  import os
  os.makedirs("folder/subfolder", exist_ok=True)
  

• Write files:

  from pathlib import Path
  Path("folder/file.txt").write_text("content", encoding="utf-8")
  

Note: If you are running inside a restricted CodeAgent sandbox, ensure that "os" and "pathlib" are included in the additional_authorized_imports list.