read_file — read a file by path

read_file returns the full contents of a file. It also records that the file has been read in the current session so the read-before-write guard on edit_file can succeed.

Schema

Arg	Type	Required	Description
path	string	yes	Relative path (resolved against the environment’s workdir) or absolute.

Example invocation

{"path": "chimera/core/agent.py"}

from chimera.tools.read import ReadFileTool

tool = ReadFileTool()
result = tool.execute({"path": "README.md"}, env=local_env)
print(result.output[:200])

Output sample

# Chimera

Compose coding agents from modular primitives.
...

On a missing file, output is empty and error reads File not found: <path>.

See also

• edit_file — requires the target to have been read_file-d first when the read-before-write guard is on.
• write_file — the create-only counterpart.
• apply_patch — multi-file atomic edits.