---
title: "MGS1047: a spell import resolves outside the workspace"
description: Fires when every candidate for a relative spell import lands above the workspace root, so nothing inside the workspace can answer it.
tags: [MGS1047, magusfile, spells, imports, workspace, hermetic]
---

# MGS1047: a spell import resolves outside the workspace

A spell import is searched from the workspace root down to the directory of the
magusfile that imports it. A `../` import joined onto a shallow level can point above
the root, and magus never loads a file from there:

```text
[error] [MGS1047] import "../spells/lint" resolves outside the workspace: from /repo
it reaches above the workspace root /repo, and an import never loads a file outside
the root; import a path inside the workspace
```

A candidate above the root is skipped without being probed. The error fires only when
no candidate inside the root is left.

A plain module import is held to the same root. A file the search resolves above the
root is refused with this code and never read. The remote-spell view is a declared root
and stays allowed, and `-L` or `BUZZ_INCLUDE_PATH` for `magus buzz` scripts stay a
deliberate escape.

## Why

The workspace is the unit magus loads, caches and sandboxes. A worktree sits beside
other checkouts of the same repository, and an import that reached past its root would
load a sibling checkout's spell, so two checkouts of one commit could run different
code. Keeping the search inside the root is what makes a load answer for its own tree.

## What to do

Import the spell by a path that stays inside the workspace, relative to the magusfile
or to the workspace root. A spell that lives outside the repository is declared through
`magus.yaml` instead; see [Remote spells](../../remote-spells.md).