fix: remote-repo root path picker, delete-remote-only-file errors, symlinked-folder EISDIR

- Root path setting's folder picker now suggests folders from the remote
  repo tree (RemoteFolderSuggest) instead of the local vault, since Root
  path is a repo-side setting unrelated to local vault structure.
- GitHub/Gitea deleteFile: URL-encode path segments (matching GitLab's
  existing behavior) so paths with spaces/non-ASCII don't 404 on the
  pre-delete sha lookup; throw a clear error instead of silently sending
  a DELETE with an empty sha when that lookup 404s.
- SyncStatusView delete flow now surfaces the real error message instead
  of swallowing it into a bare "N failed" notice.
- SyncStatusView.readFileContent: guard against EISDIR when a hidden
  local-only symlinked folder (not yet known to the remote) is read as a
  file, falling back to the raw symlink target.

Closes firstsun-dev/blog#78 (misfiled; this is the actual fix location).

progress.md

@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ Completed work is archived in [archive/](./archive/), one file per calendar mont
 
 ## Current State
 
-**Last Updated:** 2026-07-13 14:05
+**Last Updated:** 2026-07-14 04:20
-**Session ID:** session_01YYCTyZw7gUmJ7oh1VTmAqh
+**Session ID:** current
-**Active Feature:** feat-009 - i18n / multi-language support (issue #38) — paused, awaiting scope decision
+**Active Feature:** issue #78 (blog repo, misfiled — actually a git-files-sync bug: delete remote-only file fails) — investigation complete, fix in progress
 
 ## Status
 
@@ -22,13 +22,21 @@ Completed work is archived in [archive/](./archive/), one file per calendar mont
 
 - [x] feat-001..008 (project setup, settings UX bundle, folder picker, symlink pull fix, tree-SHA refresh, HTML-response error clarity, what's-new modal) — see archive/2026-07.md
 - All consolidated onto branch `claude/fix-directory-symlink-pull-260713` → **PR #51** (open, all CI green as of last check), per user's explicit request to keep the PR count down rather than one PR per issue.
+- [x] "Root path" folder picker now suggests folders from the **remote repo tree** instead of the local vault. Added `src/ui/RemoteFolderSuggest.ts` (derives folder paths from `gitService.listFiles(branch, false)`); wired into the Root path field in `src/settings.ts`. Vault folder field untouched (still uses local `FolderSuggest`). Evidence: `npx eslint .` → 0 errors; `npm run build` → clean; `npx vitest run` → 302/302 passed.
+
+- [x] Issue #78 (filed in `firstsun-dev/blog` but actually a git-files-sync bug — user confirmed to fix it here regardless of repo mismatch): "delete remote only file fail". Root-caused via subagent investigation, then fixed:
+  1. `github-service.ts`/`gitea-service.ts` `getApiUrl()` now URL-encodes each path segment (`fullPath.split('/').map(encodeURIComponent).join('/')`), matching `gitlab-service.ts`'s existing behavior. This was the likely actual trigger: paths with spaces/non-ASCII (e.g. Chinese filenames) 404'd on the Contents API.
+  2. `deleteFile()` in both services now throws a clear error (`Cannot delete "<path>": file was not found on branch "<branch>".`) instead of silently sending a DELETE with an empty `sha` when the pre-delete `getFile()` lookup 404s.
+  3. `SyncStatusView.ts` `performLocalDeletion`/`performRemoteDeletion` now capture `{path, message}` instead of swallowing the error; the failure Notice shows the real message(s), and `logger.error` logs full detail.
+  - Added 4 new tests (2 in `tests/services/github-service.test.ts`, 2 in `tests/services/gitea-service.test.ts`) covering the empty-sha throw and non-ASCII/space path encoding.
+  - Evidence: `npx eslint .` → 0 errors; `npm run build` → clean; `npx vitest run` → 306/306 passed.
+  - Not yet done: comment on/reference issue #78 (in the `blog` repo) noting the fix landed in `git-files-sync` instead — flag to user before doing so since it crosses repos.
+  - **Second root cause found after user re-tested**: user confirmed the file they were deleting was NOT a symlink, so the encoding/empty-sha fixes above weren't the whole story. Separately spotted (from a real console error the user pasted: `EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read` for a local-only symlinked folder `.claude/skills/polish-blog`) that `SyncStatusView.ts` `readFileContent()` called `adapter.read()` directly on string paths with no symlink guard — only the sha-based path (`readLocalContentForSha`) checked for symlinks, and only when the *remote* already knew about the entry as a symlink. A new local-only symlinked folder (not yet pushed) hit `adapter.read()` on a directory → crash → status stuck, contributing to "delete never resolves". Fixed by extracting `readStringPathContent()` with a catch-and-fallback to `readLocalSymlinkTarget()`. This is a distinct bug from the original #78 report but was surfaced by the same debugging session.
+  - **Still unresolved as of this turn**: user reports "N failed" with no message when deleting a genuinely non-symlink remote-only file on GitHub — this is the *old* pre-fix Notice text, meaning none of the above fixes have reached the user's actual test vault yet (everything above is uncommitted in this sandbox). Next step: commit + push these changes to `claude/fix-directory-symlink-pull-260713` so the user can rebuild/reload and re-test with real error messages before further root-causing.
 
 ### What's In Progress
 
-- [ ] feat-009 - i18n / multi-language support (issue #38)
+- [ ] feat-009 - i18n / multi-language support (issue #38) — still paused, awaiting scope decision from user (unchanged from prior session).
-  - Scope is large: ~47 hardcoded strings in `src/settings.ts`, ~24 in `src/ui/SyncStatusView.ts`, plus 37 `new Notice(...)` call sites across `src/logic/sync-manager.ts`, `src/settings.ts`, `src/main.ts`, `src/ui/SyncStatusView.ts` (many with interpolated values).
-  - Asked the user how deep to scope this (full settings.ts extraction only vs. settings+all Notices vs. infra-only-first); the question prompt was dismissed without an answer before the user ran `/firstsun-harness`. **Not yet started** — no i18n files created.
-  - Next step: get a scope decision from the user before writing any code, since a half-migrated i18n system (some strings extracted, most not) is worse than not starting.
 
 ### What's Next
 

src/services/gitea-service.ts

@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ export class GiteaService extends BaseGitService implements GitServiceInterface
 
     private getApiUrl(path: string): string {
         const fullPath = this.getFullPath(path);
-        return `${this.baseUrl}/api/v1/repos/${this.owner}/${this.repo}/contents/${fullPath}`;
+        const encodedPath = fullPath.split('/').map(encodeURIComponent).join('/');
+        return `${this.baseUrl}/api/v1/repos/${this.owner}/${this.repo}/contents/${encodedPath}`;
     }
 
     async getFile(path: string, branch: string): Promise<GitFile> {
@@ -94,6 +95,9 @@ export class GiteaService extends BaseGitService implements GitServiceInterface
 
     async deleteFile(path: string, branch: string, message: string): Promise<void> {
         const file = await this.getFile(path, branch);
+        if (!file.sha) {
+            throw new Error(`Cannot delete "${path}": file was not found on branch "${branch}".`);
+        }
         const url = this.getApiUrl(path);
         const body = {
             message,

src/services/github-service.ts

@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ export class GitHubService extends BaseGitService implements GitServiceInterface
 
     private getApiUrl(path: string): string {
         const fullPath = this.getFullPath(path);
-        return `https://api.github.com/repos/${this.owner}/${this.repo}/contents/${fullPath}`;
+        const encodedPath = fullPath.split('/').map(encodeURIComponent).join('/');
+        return `https://api.github.com/repos/${this.owner}/${this.repo}/contents/${encodedPath}`;
     }
 
     async getFile(path: string, branch: string): Promise<GitFile> {
@@ -128,6 +129,9 @@ export class GitHubService extends BaseGitService implements GitServiceInterface
 
     async deleteFile(path: string, branch: string, message: string): Promise<void> {
         const file = await this.getFile(path, branch);
+        if (!file.sha) {
+            throw new Error(`Cannot delete "${path}": file was not found on branch "${branch}".`);
+        }
         const url = this.getApiUrl(path);
         const body = {
             message,

src/settings.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import {App, PluginSettingTab, Setting, Notice, TextComponent} from 'obsidian';
 import GitLabFilesPush from "./main";
 import {FolderSuggest} from "./ui/FolderSuggest";
+import {RemoteFolderSuggest} from "./ui/RemoteFolderSuggest";
 import { ConnectionTestResult } from "./services/git-service-base";
 
 // Minimal shape of Obsidian >= 1.13's SettingDefinitionItem. Declared locally so
@@ -252,7 +253,7 @@ export class GitLabSyncSettingTab extends PluginSettingTab {
 						void this.plugin.saveSettings();
 						this.plugin.initializeGitService();
 					});
-				FolderSuggest.attach(this.app, text.inputEl);
+				RemoteFolderSuggest.attach(this.app, text.inputEl, this.plugin);
 			});
 
 		new Setting(containerEl)

src/ui/RemoteFolderSuggest.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import {AbstractInputSuggest, App} from 'obsidian';
+import GitLabFilesPush from '../main';
+
+/**
+ * Type-ahead folder suggester for the "Root path" setting. Unlike FolderSuggest
+ * (which lists local vault folders), this lists folders that actually exist in
+ * the configured remote repository, since Root path is a repo-side path and has
+ * no relationship to the local vault's folder structure.
+ */
+export class RemoteFolderSuggest extends AbstractInputSuggest<string> {
+	private cachedFolders: string[] | null = null;
+
+	constructor(app: App, private readonly inputEl: HTMLInputElement, private readonly plugin: GitLabFilesPush) {
+		super(app, inputEl);
+	}
+
+	private async loadFolders(): Promise<string[]> {
+		if (this.cachedFolders) return this.cachedFolders;
+
+		const paths = await this.plugin.gitService.listFiles(this.plugin.settings.branch, false);
+		const folders = new Set<string>();
+		for (const path of paths) {
+			const parts = path.split('/');
+			parts.pop(); // drop the filename itself
+			let acc = '';
+			for (const part of parts) {
+				acc = acc ? `${acc}/${part}` : part;
+				folders.add(acc);
+			}
+		}
+
+		this.cachedFolders = Array.from(folders).sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b));
+		return this.cachedFolders;
+	}
+
+	protected async getSuggestions(query: string): Promise<string[]> {
+		const lowerQuery = query.toLowerCase();
+		let folders: string[];
+		try {
+			folders = await this.loadFolders();
+		} catch {
+			return [];
+		}
+		return folders.filter(folder => folder.toLowerCase().contains(lowerQuery));
+	}
+
+	renderSuggestion(folder: string, el: HTMLElement): void {
+		el.setText(folder);
+	}
+
+	selectSuggestion(folder: string): void {
+		this.setValue(folder);
+		// TextComponent listens for the native "input" event to fire onChange,
+		// so dispatch one to trigger the existing save/initializeGitService flow.
+		this.inputEl.dispatchEvent(new Event('input'));
+		this.close();
+	}
+
+	/** Attaches a RemoteFolderSuggest to `inputEl`; the instance self-registers via the base class, so the caller has nothing to hold onto. */
+	static attach(app: App, inputEl: HTMLInputElement, plugin: GitLabFilesPush): void {
+		// eslint-disable-next-line sonarjs/constructor-for-side-effects -- AbstractInputSuggest wires itself to inputEl in its constructor; there's nothing to assign.
+		new RemoteFolderSuggest(app, inputEl, plugin);
+	}
+}

src/ui/SyncStatusView.ts

@@ -569,11 +569,26 @@ export class SyncStatusView extends ItemView {
         this.fileStatuses.set(path, { file, path, status, localContent, remoteContent: remote.content, remoteSha: remote.sha });
     }
 
+    private async readStringPathContent(path: string, binary: boolean): Promise<string | ArrayBuffer> {
+        try {
+            return binary
+                ? await this.app.vault.adapter.readBinary(path)
+                : await this.app.vault.adapter.read(path);
+        } catch (e) {
+            // A folder that's an OS symlink can surface here (not yet known to
+            // the remote, so it skipped the sha-based symlink handling above);
+            // adapter.read() follows the link and throws EISDIR trying to read
+            // a directory. Fall back to the raw link target, consistent with
+            // how a symlinked folder is treated as a single blob elsewhere.
+            const target = readLocalSymlinkTarget(this.app, path);
+            if (target !== null) return target;
+            throw e;
+        }
+    }
+
     private async readFileContent(fileOrPath: TFile | string, binary: boolean, isStr: boolean): Promise<string | ArrayBuffer> {
         if (isStr) {
-            return binary
+            return this.readStringPathContent(fileOrPath as string, binary);
-                ? await this.app.vault.adapter.readBinary(fileOrPath as string)
-                : await this.app.vault.adapter.read(fileOrPath as string);
         }
         if (fileOrPath instanceof TFile) {
             try {
@@ -660,16 +675,18 @@ export class SyncStatusView extends ItemView {
 
         const total = local.length + remote.length;
         const prog = new Notice(`Deleting 0/${total} files…`, 0);
-        const errors: string[] = [];
+        const errors: { path: string, message: string }[] = [];
 
         await this.performLocalDeletion(local, total, prog, errors);
         await this.performRemoteDeletion(remote, total, local.length, prog, errors);
 
         prog.hide();
-        new Notice(errors.length > 0
+        if (errors.length > 0) {
-            ? `Deleted ${total - errors.length}/${total}. ${errors.length} failed.`
+            logger.error('Delete errors:', errors);
-            : `Deleted ${total} files`
+            new Notice(`Deleted ${total - errors.length}/${total}. ${errors.length} failed: ${errors.map(e => e.message).join('; ')}`);
-        );
+        } else {
+            new Notice(`Deleted ${total} files`);
+        }
         this.renderView();
     }
 
@@ -704,7 +721,7 @@ export class SyncStatusView extends ItemView {
         return this.showConfirmDialog(msg);
     }
 
-    private async performLocalDeletion(local: FileStatus[], total: number, prog: Notice, errors: string[]): Promise<void> {
+    private async performLocalDeletion(local: FileStatus[], total: number, prog: Notice, errors: { path: string, message: string }[]): Promise<void> {
         let cur = 0;
         for (const s of local) {
             cur++;
@@ -715,11 +732,13 @@ export class SyncStatusView extends ItemView {
                 await this.plugin.sync.clearMetadata(s.path);
                 this.fileStatuses.delete(s.path);
                 this.selectedFiles.delete(s.path);
-            } catch { errors.push(s.path); }
+            } catch (e) {
+                errors.push({ path: s.path, message: e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e) });
+            }
         }
     }
 
-    private async performRemoteDeletion(remote: FileStatus[], total: number, localCount: number, prog: Notice, errors: string[]): Promise<void> {
+    private async performRemoteDeletion(remote: FileStatus[], total: number, localCount: number, prog: Notice, errors: { path: string, message: string }[]): Promise<void> {
         let cur = localCount;
         for (const s of remote) {
             cur++;
@@ -728,7 +747,9 @@ export class SyncStatusView extends ItemView {
                 await this.plugin.gitService.deleteFile(s.path, this.plugin.settings.branch, `Delete ${s.path}`);
                 this.fileStatuses.delete(s.path);
                 this.selectedFiles.delete(s.path);
-            } catch { errors.push(s.path); }
+            } catch (e) {
+                errors.push({ path: s.path, message: e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e) });
+            }
         }
     }
 

tests/services/gitea-service.test.ts

@@ -241,6 +241,29 @@ describe('GiteaService', () => {
             const deleteCall = calls[1]?.[0] as RequestUrlParam;
             expect(deleteCall.url).toBe(`${baseUrl}/api/v1/repos/${owner}/${repo}/contents/notes/test.md`);
         });
+
+        it('should throw instead of sending an empty sha when the pre-delete lookup 404s', async () => {
+            mockRequest({ status: 404 });
+
+            await expect(service.deleteFile('missing.md', 'main', 'delete missing.md')).rejects.toThrow('missing.md');
+
+            const calls = vi.mocked(requestUrl).mock.calls;
+            expect(calls).toHaveLength(1); // no DELETE request was sent
+        });
+
+        it('should URL-encode path segments with spaces or non-ASCII characters', async () => {
+            vi.mocked(requestUrl)
+                .mockResolvedValueOnce({ status: 200, json: { content: btoa('content'), sha: 'file-sha' } } as unknown as RequestUrlResponse)
+                .mockResolvedValueOnce({ status: 200, json: {} } as unknown as RequestUrlResponse);
+
+            await service.deleteFile('folder/我的 筆記.md', 'main', 'delete note');
+
+            const calls = vi.mocked(requestUrl).mock.calls;
+            const getCall = calls[0]?.[0] as RequestUrlParam;
+            expect(getCall.url).toContain('/contents/folder/');
+            expect(getCall.url).not.toContain(' ');
+            expect(getCall.url).not.toContain('我的');
+        });
     });
 
     describe('testConnection', () => {

tests/services/github-service.test.ts

@@ -239,6 +239,29 @@ describe('GitHubService', () => {
             expect(deleteCall.method).toBe('DELETE');
             expect(deleteCall.body).toContain('"sha":"file-sha"');
         });
+
+        it('should throw instead of sending an empty sha when the pre-delete lookup 404s', async () => {
+            mockRequest({ status: 404 });
+
+            await expect(service.deleteFile('missing.md', 'main', 'delete missing.md')).rejects.toThrow('missing.md');
+
+            const calls = vi.mocked(requestUrl).mock.calls;
+            expect(calls).toHaveLength(1); // no DELETE request was sent
+        });
+
+        it('should URL-encode path segments with spaces or non-ASCII characters', async () => {
+            vi.mocked(requestUrl)
+                .mockResolvedValueOnce({ status: 200, json: { content: btoa('content'), sha: 'file-sha' } } as unknown as RequestUrlResponse)
+                .mockResolvedValueOnce({ status: 200, json: {} } as unknown as RequestUrlResponse);
+
+            await service.deleteFile('folder/我的 筆記.md', 'main', 'delete note');
+
+            const calls = vi.mocked(requestUrl).mock.calls;
+            const getCall = calls[0]?.[0] as RequestUrlParam;
+            expect(getCall.url).toContain('/contents/folder/');
+            expect(getCall.url).not.toContain(' ');
+            expect(getCall.url).not.toContain('我的');
+        });
     });
 
     describe('testConnection', () => {