my-pi/pi-permission-system/docs/retro/0122-infra-read-glob-support.md

issue, issue_title

issue	issue_title
122	piInfrastructureReadPaths doesn't support glob patterns (**), causing confusing fallback to external_directory

Retro: #122 — Glob support for piInfrastructureReadPaths

Final Retrospective (2026-05-22T17:00:00Z)

Session summary

Added * and ? wildcard support to piInfrastructureReadPaths by routing glob-containing entries through the existing wildcardMatch() in isPiInfrastructureRead(). Also fixed a pre-existing silent bug where ~ expansion never worked for plain directory entries. Shipped as pi-permission-system v7.1.0.

Observations

What went well

• The feature was a 4-line logic change in one function (isPiInfrastructureRead in src/path-utils.ts), reusing wildcardMatch() and expandHomePath() with zero new dependencies. This is a direct payoff from prior refactorings (#48, #110) that extracted isPiInfrastructureRead as a pure function and kept wildcard matching in a single composable module.
• The ~ expansion bug was discovered during planning (grepping for expandHomePath in path-utils.ts found no import) and fixed as a natural side effect of the implementation — no extra step needed.
• TDD cycle was zero-rework: 5 expected failures in the red phase, all green on first implementation, no unexpected downstream breakage across 1467 tests.

What caused friction (agent side)

• missing-context — The docs commit (94fa688) used ** in the piInfrastructureReadPaths example pattern, copying the reporter's original syntax without noting that ** and * are identical in this system's wildcard matcher. The user caught this and made a corrective commit (00563dc). Impact: one follow-up commit to fix misleading examples; no rework to code or tests. User-caught.
• instruction-violation — The /ship-issue prompt template wrapped commit SHAs in backticks (`<sha>`), which prevents GitHub's auto-linking in issue comments. The user noticed the SHAs in a prior closed issue weren't clickable and traced it to the template. Impact: one fix commit (5f7665b) to .pi/prompts/ship-issue.md; added friction but no code rework. User-caught.

What caused friction (user side)

• No significant friction. The user's mid-session redirect about ** vs * semantics was well-timed and led to cleaner documentation.

Changes made

1. Retro file created at packages/pi-permission-system/docs/retro/0122-infra-read-glob-support.md.