From 2b68acb2d55fee3e4d99a96ac607acb8ed8bcd12 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: garrytan <garrytan@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 03:01:29 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(context-bill): --exact resolves a billed path one link at
 a time, so a shared deep chain keeps its measurements

Co-authored-by: capy-ai[bot] <230910855+capy-ai[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 lib/context-bill.ts       | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 test/context-bill.test.ts | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/lib/context-bill.ts b/lib/context-bill.ts
index c7f8863d2..e13270961 100644
--- a/lib/context-bill.ts
+++ b/lib/context-bill.ts
@@ -243,6 +243,21 @@ function entryKind(p: string, e: fs.Dirent): "file" | "dir" | null {
  * followed directory symlink that contains the tree being walked (`..`, `/`,
  * `$HOME`) would climb out of that tree, so walkers refuse it.
  */
+/**
+ * The realpath of `p`, resolved one component at a time the way the walk
+ * reads directories, so a lexical path that crosses more links than the
+ * kernel's limit still resolves.
+ */
+function realpathStepwise(p: string): string {
+  const abs = path.resolve(p);
+  const { root } = path.parse(abs);
+  let real = fs.realpathSync(root);
+  for (const segment of abs.slice(root.length).split(path.sep)) {
+    if (segment) real = fs.realpathSync(path.join(real, segment));
+  }
+  return real;
+}
+
 function encloses(outer: string, inner: string): boolean {
   const rel = path.relative(outer, inner);
   return rel === "" || (rel !== ".." && !rel.startsWith(`..${path.sep}`) && !path.isAbsolute(rel));
@@ -1019,7 +1034,7 @@ export async function measureExactTokens(
     const isFm = key.endsWith(fmSuffix);
     let real: string;
     try {
-      real = fs.realpathSync(isFm ? key.slice(0, -fmSuffix.length) : key);
+      real = realpathStepwise(isFm ? key.slice(0, -fmSuffix.length) : key);
     } catch {
       return undefined;
     }
diff --git a/test/context-bill.test.ts b/test/context-bill.test.ts
index c4f023b85..7856175ea 100644
--- a/test/context-bill.test.ts
+++ b/test/context-bill.test.ts
@@ -1406,6 +1406,33 @@ describe("--exact (opt-in measurement; offline here via an injected fetch)", ()
     expect(rows).toBe(depth + 1);
   });
 
+  it("prices a second skill's links into a chain deeper than the kernel's limit from the one measurement", async () => {
+    if (process.platform === "win32") return;
+    const tmp = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "context-bill-exact-shared-deep-"));
+    const levels = path.join(tmp, "levels");
+    const depth = 50;
+    for (let i = 0; i < depth; i++) {
+      fs.mkdirSync(path.join(levels, `L${i}`), { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(levels, `L${i}`, `f${i}.md`), `F${i}-${"x".repeat(30)}`);
+    }
+    for (let i = 0; i < depth - 1; i++) fs.symlinkSync(path.join(levels, `L${i + 1}`), path.join(levels, `L${i}`, "next"));
+    markCheckout(levels);
+    const root = path.join(tmp, "skills");
+    for (const name of ["qa", "qb"]) {
+      fs.mkdirSync(path.join(root, name), { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(root, name, "SKILL.md"), `---\nname: ${name}\ndescription: d\n---\n# ${name}\n`);
+      fs.symlinkSync(path.join(levels, "L0"), path.join(root, name, "next"));
+    }
+    fs.symlinkSync(levels, path.join(root, "gstack"));
+    const measured = await measureExactTokens(root, { model: "m", apiKey: "sk-test", fetchImpl: fakeFetch(), egressHome });
+    const bill = buildBill(root, { tokensOf: measured.tokensOf, tokenSource: measured.tokenSource });
+    fs.rmSync(tmp, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    expect([...measured.missedKeys]).toEqual([]);
+    const [qa, qb] = ["qa", "qb"].map((n) => bill.skills.find((s) => s.name === n)!);
+    expect(qb.totalMdBytes).toBe(qa.totalMdBytes);
+    expect(qb.totalMdTokens).toBe(qa.totalMdTokens);
+  });
+
   it("names a missing tree, without a raw ENOENT or any request", async () => {
     const parent = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "context-bill-missing-"));
     const out = capture();