From 28d11713dbd90ebda5e098f3198a0173309e23dd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Chrys <53332481+ChrAlpha@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 23:17:04 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix: preserve empty skill discovery roots (#384)

---
 internal/workspace/image_preference.go      | 6 +++++-
 internal/workspace/image_preference_test.go | 3 +++
 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/internal/workspace/image_preference.go b/internal/workspace/image_preference.go
index 5ffd6f12..6abc7e05 100644
--- a/internal/workspace/image_preference.go
+++ b/internal/workspace/image_preference.go
@@ -138,7 +138,11 @@ func workspaceSkillDiscoveryRootsFromMetadata(metadata map[string]any) ([]string
 		return []string{}, true
 	}
 
-	return normalizeWorkspaceSkillDiscoveryRoots(roots), true
+	normalized := normalizeWorkspaceSkillDiscoveryRoots(roots)
+	if normalized == nil {
+		return []string{}, true
+	}
+	return normalized, true
 }
 
 func withWorkspaceImagePreference(metadata map[string]any, image string) map[string]any {
diff --git a/internal/workspace/image_preference_test.go b/internal/workspace/image_preference_test.go
index 157a09f2..f1ab7a8b 100644
--- a/internal/workspace/image_preference_test.go
+++ b/internal/workspace/image_preference_test.go
@@ -163,6 +163,9 @@ func TestWorkspaceSkillDiscoveryRootsExplicitDisableRemainsPresent(t *testing.T)
 	if !ok {
 		t.Fatal("expected skill discovery roots key to remain present")
 	}
+	if roots == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected explicit disable to return a non-nil empty slice")
+	}
 	if len(roots) != 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("expected explicit disable with no roots, got %#v", roots)
 	}