fix: make directory relative to base_dir for better UX

When base_dir is set, the directory arg is now treated as a subdirectory
of base_dir rather than an absolute path. This means the LLM only needs
to specify a filename (and optionally a relative subdirectory) — it does
not need to repeat the base_dir path.

  FileWriterTool(base_dir="./output")
  → filename="report.txt"            writes to ./output/report.txt
  → filename="f.txt", directory="sub" writes to ./output/sub/f.txt

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

lib/crewai-tools/src/crewai_tools/tools/file_writer_tool/file_writer_tool.py

@@ -47,8 +47,9 @@ class FileWriterTool(BaseTool):
         if base_dir is not None:
             self.description = (
                 f"A tool to write files within {base_dir}. "
-                "Accepts filename, content, and optionally a directory path and overwrite flag. "
-                "Paths outside the allowed directory will be rejected."
+                "Accepts filename and content. "
+                "Optionally accepts a subdirectory (relative to the base directory) and overwrite flag. "
+                "Paths outside the base directory will be rejected."
             )
             self._generate_description()
 
@@ -63,21 +64,21 @@ class FileWriterTool(BaseTool):
 
     def _run(self, **kwargs: Any) -> str:
         try:
-            directory = kwargs.get("directory") or "./"
+            directory = kwargs.get("directory") or ""
             filename = kwargs["filename"]
 
-            filepath = os.path.join(directory, filename)
+            # When base_dir is set, directory is relative to it.
+            # When not set, directory is used as-is (absolute or cwd-relative).
+            if self.base_dir is not None:
+                filepath = os.path.join(self.base_dir, directory, filename)
+            else:
+                filepath = os.path.join(directory or "./", filename)
 
             validated = self._validate_path(filepath)
             if validated is None:
-                return f"Error: Access denied — path resolves outside the allowed directory."
+                return "Error: Access denied — path resolves outside the allowed directory."
 
-            # Only create directories that are within the validated path
             validated_dir = os.path.dirname(validated)
-            if self.base_dir is not None:
-                # Ensure the directory itself is also within base_dir
-                if not validated_dir.startswith(self.base_dir):
-                    return f"Error: Access denied — directory resolves outside the allowed directory."
             os.makedirs(validated_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
             kwargs["overwrite"] = strtobool(kwargs["overwrite"])

lib/crewai-tools/tests/tools/test_file_writer_tool.py

@@ -145,9 +145,9 @@ def scoped_tool(temp_env):
 
 
 def test_base_dir_allows_write_inside(scoped_tool, temp_env):
+    """No directory arg — writes directly into base_dir."""
     result = scoped_tool._run(
         filename=temp_env["test_file"],
-        directory=temp_env["temp_dir"],
         content=temp_env["test_content"],
         overwrite=True,
     )
@@ -155,10 +155,21 @@ def test_base_dir_allows_write_inside(scoped_tool, temp_env):
     assert read_file(get_test_path(temp_env["test_file"], temp_env["temp_dir"])) == temp_env["test_content"]
 
 
+def test_base_dir_allows_relative_subdir(scoped_tool, temp_env):
+    """directory arg is treated as a subdirectory of base_dir."""
+    result = scoped_tool._run(
+        filename="file.txt",
+        directory="subdir",
+        content="nested content",
+        overwrite=True,
+    )
+    assert "successfully written" in result
+    assert os.path.exists(os.path.join(temp_env["temp_dir"], "subdir", "file.txt"))
+
+
 def test_base_dir_blocks_traversal_in_filename(scoped_tool, temp_env):
     result = scoped_tool._run(
         filename="../outside.txt",
-        directory=temp_env["temp_dir"],
         content="should not be written",
         overwrite=True,
     )
@@ -168,14 +179,14 @@ def test_base_dir_blocks_traversal_in_filename(scoped_tool, temp_env):
 def test_base_dir_blocks_traversal_in_directory(scoped_tool, temp_env):
     result = scoped_tool._run(
         filename="pwned.txt",
-        directory=os.path.join(temp_env["temp_dir"], "../../etc/cron.d"),
+        directory="../../etc/cron.d",
         content="should not be written",
         overwrite=True,
     )
     assert "Access denied" in result
 
 
-def test_base_dir_blocks_absolute_path_outside(scoped_tool, temp_env):
+def test_base_dir_blocks_absolute_directory(scoped_tool, temp_env):
     result = scoped_tool._run(
         filename="passwd",
         directory="/etc",
@@ -190,23 +201,13 @@ def test_base_dir_blocks_symlink_escape(scoped_tool, temp_env):
     os.symlink("/etc", link)
     result = scoped_tool._run(
         filename="crontab",
-        directory=link,
+        directory="escape",
         content="should not be written",
         overwrite=True,
     )
     assert "Access denied" in result
 
 
-def test_base_dir_allows_nested_subdir(scoped_tool, temp_env):
-    result = scoped_tool._run(
-        filename="file.txt",
-        directory=os.path.join(temp_env["temp_dir"], "subdir"),
-        content="nested content",
-        overwrite=True,
-    )
-    assert "successfully written" in result
-
-
 def test_base_dir_description_mentions_directory(temp_env):
     tool = FileWriterTool(base_dir=temp_env["temp_dir"])
     assert temp_env["temp_dir"] in tool.description