Work Classification: Library
Worktree root: ~/Code/PyAutoLabs-wt/workspace-version-warning-outside-workspace/

Affected Repositories

• PyAutoNerves (primary)

Branch Survey

Suggested branch: feature/workspace-version-warning-outside-workspace

Implementation Steps

1. autonerves/workspace.py: add _looks_like_workspace(root) returning (root / "config").is_dir() (every workspace ships config/; version.txt is already consumed earlier in check_version).
2. In check_version's no-floor branch:

   if floor_version is None or floor_version == "":
       if _is_source_checkout(root) or not _looks_like_workspace(root):
           return
       _warn_once(_missing_version_warning(root, library_version))
       return

3. Update the check_version docstring (no-floor paragraph) and _is_source_checkout's docstring to describe both silent cases.
4. Tests in test_autonerves/test_workspace.py:
   • test_missing_sources_warns: create tmp_path / "config" first (still warns).
   • new test_missing_sources_without_config_dir_is_silent: bare tmp dir under warnings.simplefilter("error") emits nothing (must fail on unfixed source).
   • new test_config_dir_without_general_yaml_or_version_txt_warns.
   • Source-checkout tests and test_yaml_without_version_key_falls_through_to_warning unaffected.
5. Run the full autonerves suite.

Key Files

• autonerves/workspace.py — check_version, _is_source_checkout, new _looks_like_workspace
• test_autonerves/test_workspace.py — tests

Reliance check

No repo asserts the warning text. Heart (workspace-validation.yml), Hands (release.yml) and PyAutoLens subprocess tests only set PYAUTO_SKIP_WORKSPACE_VERSION_CHECK=1; unaffected. Risk: a real workspace clone missing config/ stops warning — not a realistic layout.

autonerves check_version warns 'Cannot verify the workspace' from directories that are not a workspace

Type: bug
Target: PyAutoNerves
Repos:

• PyAutoNerves
  Themes:
• config
• community
  Autonomy: supervised
  Priority: low
  Status: draft
  Filed: 2026-10-07
  Difficulty: small
  Consequence: judge
  Witness: with a bare tmp dir (no config/, no version.txt, no setup.py/pyproject.toml) as cwd, check_version("2026.8.17.1") emits no warning (under warnings.simplefilter("error")); a tmp dir with an empty config/ dir still warns; the existing test_missing_sources_warns is updated to create config/ first and still passes.
  Review-minutes: 4
  Unattended: ready
  Source: GitHub Discussion https://github.com/orgs/PyAutoLabs/discussions/13 (external contributor @HRSAstro, pyuvimage), comment Streaming visibilities for memory efficiency .github#13 (comment); technical review 2026-10-07 (Item D, accept).

Request (verbatim)

• Running a plain script from a data directory triggers the autonerves workspace version warning. It's harmless, but it might be worth skipping when there is no workspace config at all.

What

check_version (autonerves/workspace.py:175) defaults root = Path.cwd(); with no config/general.yaml version keys and no version.txt it warns unless _is_source_checkout(root) (:98, setup.py/pyproject.toml). A plain data directory has none, so _warn_once(_missing_version_warning(...)) (:250-253 region) fires. It runs on import of autofit/autogalaxy/autolens (autofit/__init__.py:175, autogalaxy/__init__.py:141, autolens/__init__.py:163); autoarray does not call it.

Plan

1. In the no-floor branch:

   if floor_version is None or floor_version == "":
       if _is_source_checkout(root) or not _looks_like_workspace(root):
           return
   

   with _looks_like_workspace(root) = (root / "config").is_dir() (every workspace ships config/; version.txt is already consumed above). A config/ with no version keys still warns (genuinely misconfigured; keeps test_yaml_without_version_key_falls_through_to_warning).
2. Update the check_version docstring (:198-202) and _is_source_checkout's.
3. No walk-up to a parent workspace root: a workspace script run from a subdirectory goes from a false warning to silent (floor unchecked, same as outside a workspace); walking up could find an unrelated parent config/.

Tests (organs/PyAutoNerves/test_autonerves/test_workspace.py): test_missing_sources_warns (:31) uses a bare tmp_path and will flip — create config/ first; add test_missing_sources_without_config_dir_is_silent; add "config/ present, no general.yaml, no version.txt → warns". Source-checkout tests (:37, :47) unaffected.

Reliance check: no repo asserts the warning text. Heart (workspace-validation.yml:77), Hands (release.yml:474,776) and PyAutoLens subprocess tests (test_tracer_fields.py:527,649, test_analysis_point_gradient_mode.py:214) only set PYAUTO_SKIP_WORKSPACE_VERSION_CHECK=1; unaffected. Risk: a real workspace clone missing config/ stops warning — not a realistic layout.