fix: Tool watcher checks for tools repo even if initially missing

src/strands/tools/registry.py

@@ -246,7 +246,11 @@ def get_tools_dirs(self) -> List[Path]:
                 tool_dirs.append(directory)
                 logger.debug("tools_dir=<%s> | found tools directory", directory)
             else:
-                logger.debug("tools_dir=<%s> | tools directory not found", directory)
+                logger.warning(
+                    "tools_dir=<%s> | tools directory not found."
+                    "You must create a local tools directory to enable hot-reloading of tools",
+                    directory,
+                )
 
         return tool_dirs
 

src/strands/tools/watcher.py

@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ def on_modified(self, event: Any) -> None:
             if event.src_path.endswith(".py"):
                 tool_path = Path(event.src_path)
                 tool_name = tool_path.stem
-
                 if tool_name not in ["__init__"]:
                     # Delegate to all registered handlers for this directory
                     for handler in ToolWatcher._registry_handlers.get(self.dir_path, {}).values():
@@ -122,7 +121,8 @@ def start(self) -> None:
             if dir_str not in ToolWatcher._watched_dirs:
                 # First time seeing this directory, create a master handler
                 master_handler = self.MasterChangeHandler(dir_str)
-                ToolWatcher._shared_observer.schedule(master_handler, dir_str, recursive=False)
+
+                ToolWatcher._shared_observer.schedule(master_handler, str(tools_dir), recursive=False)
                 ToolWatcher._watched_dirs.add(dir_str)
                 logger.debug("tools_dir=<%s> | started watching tools directory", tools_dir)
             else:

tests/strands/tools/test_watcher.py

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 Tests for the SDK tool watcher module.
 """
 
+from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
@@ -96,3 +97,24 @@ def test_on_modified_error_handling(mock_reload_tool):
 
     # Verify that reload_tool was called
     mock_reload_tool.assert_called_once_with("test_tool")
+
+
+@patch("strands.tools.watcher.ToolWatcher._shared_observer")
+@patch.object(ToolRegistry, "get_tools_dirs")
+def test_start_uses_correct_path_for_observer_schedule(mock_get_tools_dirs, mock_observer):
+    """Test that start method schedules observer with correct path (str(tools_dir) not dir_str)."""
+
+    # Mock the tools directories
+    tools_dir = Path("/test/tools")
+    mock_get_tools_dirs.return_value = [tools_dir]
+
+    tool_registry = ToolRegistry()
+    watcher = ToolWatcher(tool_registry)
+
+    # Call start method
+    watcher.start()
+
+    # Verify that schedule was called with str(tools_dir)
+    mock_observer.schedule.assert_called_once()
+    args = mock_observer.schedule.call_args[0]
+    assert args[1] == str(tools_dir)  # Second argument should be the string path