fileTree passed into agent context doesn't respect .gitignore correctly

[ramblingenzyme]

Before opening, please confirm:

• I have searched for duplicate or closed issues

Operating System

darwin

Kiro Version

0.7.34

Bug Description

Every single task is filling up context immediately. Even if the task is completes, the auto summary creates a new session, which then goes off the rails and starts implementing the next tasks in the list, but doesn't run into the context getting overloaded.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start a task in Kiro?

Expected Behavior

That tasks have context overhead to be able to complete a task as before.

Conversation ID

0b88611b-4d21-46a6-b1d8-6032896c6e24
40191abf-c7a7-40ba-b797-752aa8455ed1
d52f360b-1b6b-4d60-a238-4a95afef4d7c

Additional Context

No response

[ramblingenzyme]

This looks like it's specific to my workspace but I am seeing this in the logs.
2025-12-10 11:12:09.112 [info] [Steering] ExistingFiles: /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/tasks.md, /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/requirements.md, /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/design.md, /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/tasks.md, /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/requirements.md, /Users/satvik/src/product-analytics/.kiro/specs/amass-nx-integration/design.md in cc3dffce-ce11-4d07-9ed1-765c4349fa3f

Does this indicate that my spec files are being included multiple times and blowing out the context?

[ramblingenzyme]

Going through the logs more, this seems to be caused by passing through .nx/ files even though they're in .gitignore.

From the output logs it looks like the filetree is being passed without properly applying .gitignores.

I will follow these instructions.\"}]\n2025-12-10 11:34:07.609 [info] -------------- AI Message[2] --------------\n2025-12-10 11:34:07.610 [info] [{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"You are operating in a workspace with files and folders. Below is the known structure of the workspace. If a directory is marked closed, you can use the 'openFolders' tool to dig in deeper.\\n\\n<fileTree>\\

gitignore

.idea
*.iml
.DS_Store
node_modules
.env
target
coverage
dist

.pnp.*
.yarn/*
!.yarn/patches
!.yarn/plugins
!.yarn/releases
!.yarn/sdks
!.yarn/versions

# NX
.nx

fileTree

<fileTree>
<folder name='.nx' >
  <folder name='.nx/cache' >
    <folder name='.nx/cache/10895812836460395612' closed />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/14138484627909567203' closed />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/16902677925063525508' closed />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/2317063281231095354' closed />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/5636017146086006034' closed />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/7216291292405151396' closed />
    <file name='.nx/cache/run.json' />
    <folder name='.nx/cache/terminalOutputs' closed />
  </folder>
  <folder name='.nx/workspace-data' >
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/121ECB02-613F-539E-8D45-D5DD2D5F32C5.db' />
    <folder name='.nx/workspace-data/d' closed />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/eslint-2654242865465226088.hash' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/file-map.json' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/jest-2587454059357288478.hash' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/lockfile-dependencies.hash' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/lockfile-nodes.hash' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/nx_files.nxt' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/parsed-lock-file.dependencies.json' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/parsed-lock-file.nodes.json' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/project-graph.json' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/project-graph.lock' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/source-maps.json' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/tsc-10853810612180162499.hash' />
    <file name='.nx/workspace-data/tsconfig-files.hash' />
  </folder>
</folder>
<folder name='.yarn' >
  <file name='.yarn/install-state.gz' />
</folder>
<folder name='node_modules' closed />
</fileTree>

[dguisinger]

Whatever the solution is, it should not rely on .gitignore. My workflow often has kiro working with files that are ignored by git. They are fundamentally two different things.

[ricatix]

I experienced the same thing, and I worked with the laravel framework with the debugbar package. Debugbar often creates new files in /storage/debugbar and for some reason they are crawled by Kiro and put into context. I've added the folder to .kiroignore and my context is still full. it seems that Kiro only tests for common files / folders such as node_modules, etc

[andrewgremlich]

I am facing a similar issue. I have an angular project and the .angular folder is causing the context to exceed the context window. The editor doesn't seem to look at .gitignore or a kiroignore file

[jff1625]

I also have this problem. .yarn/cache fills up my context even before .kiroignore is read.