fix(embed): resolve source files from DB root, not cwd

crates/codegraph-core/src/build_pipeline.rs

@@ -703,6 +703,13 @@ fn finalize_build(conn: &Connection, root_dir: &str) -> (i64, i64) {
         let _ = stmt.execute(["node_count", &node_count.to_string()]);
         let _ = stmt.execute(["edge_count", &edge_count.to_string()]);
         let _ = stmt.execute(["last_build", &now_ms().to_string()]);
+        // Persist repo root so downstream commands (e.g. `codegraph embed`)
+        // can resolve relative file paths regardless of invoking cwd.
+        let root_canon = std::fs::canonicalize(root_dir)
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|p| p.to_str().map(|s| s.to_string()))
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| root_dir.to_string());
+        let _ = stmt.execute(["root_dir", &root_canon]);
     }
 
     // Write journal header

src/domain/graph/builder/stages/finalize.ts

@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  *
  * WASM cleanup, stats logging, drift detection, build metadata, registry, journal.
  */
+import fs from 'node:fs';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { performance } from 'node:perf_hooks';
@@ -88,6 +89,19 @@ function persistBuildMetadata(
   // subsequent build to be a full rebuild.
   const codeVersionToWrite =
     ctx.engineName === 'native' && ctx.engineVersion ? ctx.engineVersion : CODEGRAPH_VERSION;
+  // Persist the repo root so downstream commands (e.g. `codegraph embed`)
+  // can resolve relative file paths regardless of the invoking cwd.
+  // Use realpathSync (symlink-resolving) to match the Rust engine's
+  // std::fs::canonicalize — otherwise the JS write here would overwrite the
+  // canonical path Rust wrote for native full builds and could re-introduce
+  // a non-canonical path when the project root is behind a symlink.
+  const resolvedRootDir = path.resolve(ctx.rootDir);
+  let rootDirToWrite = resolvedRootDir;
+  try {
+    rootDirToWrite = fs.realpathSync(resolvedRootDir);
+  } catch {
+    /* realpath can fail (e.g. path no longer exists); fall back to resolve() */
+  }
   try {
     if (useNativeDb) {
       ctx.nativeDb!.setBuildMeta(
@@ -99,6 +113,7 @@ function persistBuildMetadata(
           built_at: buildNow.toISOString(),
           node_count: String(nodeCount),
           edge_count: String(actualEdgeCount),
+          root_dir: rootDirToWrite,
         }).map(([key, value]) => ({ key, value: String(value) })),
       );
     } else {
@@ -110,6 +125,7 @@ function persistBuildMetadata(
         built_at: buildNow.toISOString(),
         node_count: nodeCount,
         edge_count: actualEdgeCount,
+        root_dir: rootDirToWrite,
       });
     }
   } catch (err) {

src/domain/search/generator.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
-import { closeDb, findDbPath, openDb } from '../../db/index.js';
+import { closeDb, findDbPath, getBuildMeta, openDb } from '../../db/index.js';
 import { warn } from '../../infrastructure/logger.js';
 import { DbError } from '../../shared/errors.js';
 import type { BetterSqlite3Database, NodeRow } from '../../types.js';
@@ -73,6 +73,21 @@ export async function buildEmbeddings(
   const db = openDb(dbPath) as BetterSqlite3Database;
   initEmbeddingsSchema(db);
 
+  // Prefer the repo root recorded at build time — embed may be invoked from a
+  // different cwd (e.g. `codegraph embed --db /abs/path/graph.db`) and the
+  // positional rootDir will be wrong in that case. For legacy DBs without
+  // root_dir metadata, fall back to `<dbParent>` only when the DB lives at
+  // the conventional `<root>/.codegraph/graph.db` layout — otherwise trust
+  // the caller-provided rootDir (which may be an explicit positional arg).
+  // `path.dirname(...)` is always non-empty (`'.'` at minimum), so the
+  // conventional-layout check is required to keep the rootDir path reachable.
+  const metaRoot = getBuildMeta(db, 'root_dir');
+  const resolvedDbPath = path.resolve(dbPath);
+  const dbDirName = path.basename(path.dirname(resolvedDbPath));
+  const dbParent =
+    dbDirName === '.codegraph' ? path.dirname(path.dirname(resolvedDbPath)) : undefined;
+  const resolvedRoot = metaRoot || dbParent || rootDir;
+
   db.exec('DELETE FROM embeddings');
   db.exec('DELETE FROM embedding_meta');
   db.exec('DELETE FROM fts_index');
@@ -98,13 +113,17 @@ export async function buildEmbeddings(
   const config = getModelConfig(modelKey);
   const contextWindow = config.contextWindow;
   let overflowCount = 0;
+  let filesRead = 0;
+  let filesSkipped = 0;
 
   for (const [file, fileNodes] of byFile) {
-    const fullPath = path.isAbsolute(file) ? file : path.join(rootDir, file);
+    const fullPath = path.isAbsolute(file) ? file : path.join(resolvedRoot, file);
     let lines: string[];
     try {
       lines = fs.readFileSync(fullPath, 'utf-8').split('\n');
+      filesRead++;
     } catch (err: unknown) {
+      filesSkipped++;
       warn(`Cannot read ${file} for embeddings: ${(err as Error).message}`);
       continue;
     }
@@ -136,6 +155,19 @@ export async function buildEmbeddings(
     );
   }
 
+  // If there were symbols to embed but every file failed to read, the DB was
+  // almost certainly built from a different location than the current cwd.
+  // Surface this clearly instead of emitting a silent "Stored 0 embeddings".
+  if (byFile.size > 0 && filesRead === 0) {
+    closeDb(db);
+    throw new DbError(
+      `embed: could not read any of the ${filesSkipped} source files recorded in the graph — the DB may have been built from a different location than the current working directory.\n` +
+        `Tried resolving against: ${resolvedRoot}\n` +
+        'Pass a positional <dir> argument pointing at the original repo root, or re-run "codegraph build" from that directory.',
+      { file: dbPath },
+    );
+  }
+
   console.log(`Embedding ${texts.length} symbols...`);
   const { vectors, dim } = await embed(texts, modelKey);
 

tests/search/embedding-strategy.test.ts

@@ -335,6 +335,126 @@ describe('absolute file paths in DB (#752)', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('embed resolves source files from DB root, not cwd (#983)', () => {
+  let repoDir: string, otherDir: string, repoDbPath: string;
+  let originalCwd: string;
+
+  beforeAll(() => {
+    // Repo that was built (files live here)
+    repoDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-embed983-repo-'));
+    // Unrelated directory we'll cd into when running embed
+    otherDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-embed983-other-'));
+
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(repoDir, 'a.js'),
+      'export function alpha() { return 1; }\nexport function beta() { return alpha(); }\n',
+    );
+
+    const dbDir = path.join(repoDir, '.codegraph');
+    fs.mkdirSync(dbDir, { recursive: true });
+    repoDbPath = path.join(dbDir, 'graph.db');
+
+    const db = new Database(repoDbPath);
+    db.pragma('journal_mode = WAL');
+    initSchema(db);
+    // DB stores *relative* file paths (typical of WASM-engine builds)
+    insertNode(db, 'alpha', 'function', 'a.js', 1, 1);
+    insertNode(db, 'beta', 'function', 'a.js', 2, 2);
+    // Persist the repo root as the build pipeline would
+    db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO build_meta (key, value) VALUES (?, ?)').run(
+      'root_dir',
+      path.resolve(repoDir),
+    );
+    db.close();
+
+    originalCwd = process.cwd();
+  });
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    try {
+      process.chdir(originalCwd);
+    } catch {
+      /* ignore */
+    }
+    if (repoDir) fs.rmSync(repoDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    if (otherDir) fs.rmSync(otherDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  test('uses root_dir metadata when embed is invoked from unrelated cwd', async () => {
+    EMBEDDED_TEXTS.length = 0;
+    process.chdir(otherDir);
+
+    // Simulate the CLI: positional dir defaults to cwd (here: otherDir), DB path is absolute
+    await buildEmbeddings(process.cwd(), 'minilm', repoDbPath);
+
+    expect(EMBEDDED_TEXTS.length).toBe(2);
+
+    const db = new Database(repoDbPath, { readonly: true });
+    const count = db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) as c FROM embeddings').get().c;
+    db.close();
+    expect(count).toBe(2);
+  });
+
+  test('falls back to <dbPath>/../.. when root_dir metadata is missing', async () => {
+    // Build a fresh DB without root_dir metadata
+    const legacyRepo = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-embed983-legacy-'));
+    try {
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(legacyRepo, 'b.js'), 'export function gamma() { return 42; }\n');
+      const legacyDbDir = path.join(legacyRepo, '.codegraph');
+      fs.mkdirSync(legacyDbDir, { recursive: true });
+      const legacyDb = path.join(legacyDbDir, 'graph.db');
+
+      const db = new Database(legacyDb);
+      db.pragma('journal_mode = WAL');
+      initSchema(db);
+      insertNode(db, 'gamma', 'function', 'b.js', 1, 1);
+      // Deliberately NOT writing root_dir — simulates DB built before #983 fix
+      db.close();
+
+      EMBEDDED_TEXTS.length = 0;
+      process.chdir(otherDir);
+      await buildEmbeddings(process.cwd(), 'minilm', legacyDb);
+
+      expect(EMBEDDED_TEXTS.length).toBe(1);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(legacyRepo, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('exits non-zero (throws) when no source files can be read', async () => {
+    // Build a DB pointing at files that no longer exist
+    const ghostRepo = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-embed983-ghost-'));
+    try {
+      const ghostDbDir = path.join(ghostRepo, '.codegraph');
+      fs.mkdirSync(ghostDbDir, { recursive: true });
+      const ghostDb = path.join(ghostDbDir, 'graph.db');
+
+      const db = new Database(ghostDb);
+      db.pragma('journal_mode = WAL');
+      initSchema(db);
+      insertNode(db, 'missing', 'function', 'does-not-exist.js', 1, 1);
+      db.prepare('INSERT OR REPLACE INTO build_meta (key, value) VALUES (?, ?)').run(
+        'root_dir',
+        path.resolve(ghostRepo),
+      );
+      db.close();
+
+      EMBEDDED_TEXTS.length = 0;
+      await expect(buildEmbeddings(ghostRepo, 'minilm', ghostDb)).rejects.toThrow(
+        /could not read any of the .* source files/,
+      );
+
+      // No embeddings were persisted (they would have been overwritten via DELETE)
+      const readDb = new Database(ghostDb, { readonly: true });
+      const count = readDb.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) as c FROM embeddings').get().c;
+      readDb.close();
+      expect(count).toBe(0);
+    } finally {
+      fs.rmSync(ghostRepo, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 describe('context window overflow detection', () => {
   let bigDir: string, bigDbPath: string;