diff --git a/test/commands/workspace-path-guard.test.ts b/test/commands/workspace-path-guard.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..71eb5c16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/commands/workspace-path-guard.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import * as fs from 'node:fs';
+
+function readWorkspaceCommandTestSource(): string {
+  return fs.readFileSync(new URL('./workspace.test.ts', import.meta.url), 'utf-8');
+}
+
+describe('workspace command path expectation guardrails', () => {
+  it('keeps generated workspace folder expectations behind canonical path helpers', () => {
+    const source = readWorkspaceCommandTestSource();
+
+    expect(source).not.toMatch(/\.folders\)\.toEqual\(\s*\[/u);
+    expect(source).not.toMatch(/expect\(workspaceFolders\)\.toEqual\(\s*\[/u);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps opener launch expectations behind canonical path helpers', () => {
+    const source = readWorkspaceCommandTestSource();
+
+    expect(source).not.toMatch(/expect\([^)]*Launch\.args\)\.toEqual\(/u);
+    expect(source).not.toMatch(/expect\(fs\.realpathSync\.native\([^)]*Launch\.cwd\)\)\.toBe/u);
+    expect(source).not.toMatch(/getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath\(expectedExistingPath\(/u);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/commands/workspace.interactive.test.ts b/test/commands/workspace.interactive.test.ts
index 1173f1ed..16599877 100644
--- a/test/commands/workspace.interactive.test.ts
+++ b/test/commands/workspace.interactive.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   getWorkspaceLocalStatePath,
   parseWorkspaceLocalState,
 } from '../../src/core/workspace/index.js';
+import { expectedExistingPath } from '../helpers/workspace-paths.js';
 
 vi.mock('@inquirer/prompts', () => ({
   input: vi.fn(),
@@ -88,10 +89,6 @@ describe('workspace command interactive flows', () => {
     return dir;
   }
 
-  function expectedExistingPath(existingPath: string): string {
-    return process.platform === 'win32' ? fs.realpathSync.native(existingPath) : existingPath;
-  }
-
   function readLocalState(workspaceName: string) {
     const workspaceRoot = getManagedWorkspaceRoot(workspaceName);
     return parseWorkspaceLocalState(
diff --git a/test/commands/workspace.test.ts b/test/commands/workspace.test.ts
index 366c6f37..f025cb72 100644
--- a/test/commands/workspace.test.ts
+++ b/test/commands/workspace.test.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ import {
 } from '../../src/core/workspace/index.js';
 import { FileSystemUtils } from '../../src/utils/file-system.js';
 import { runCLI, type RunCLIResult } from '../helpers/run-cli.js';
+import {
+  expectedExistingPath,
+  expectedWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath,
+  expectedWorkspaceFolders,
+  expectWorkspaceLaunchLog,
+} from '../helpers/workspace-paths.js';
 
 describe('workspace command', () => {
   let tempDir: string;
@@ -51,10 +57,6 @@ describe('workspace command', () => {
     return dir;
   }
 
-  function expectedExistingPath(existingPath: string): string {
-    return process.platform === 'win32' ? fs.realpathSync.native(existingPath) : existingPath;
-  }
-
   function parseJson(result: RunCLIResult): any {
     try {
       return JSON.parse(result.stdout);
@@ -197,19 +199,21 @@ describe('workspace command', () => {
     expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(workspaceRoot, 'AGENTS.md'), 'utf-8')).toContain(
       'OpenSpec Workspace Guidance'
     );
-    expect(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(workspaceRoot, 'platform'), 'utf-8')).folders).toEqual([
-      {
-        path: '.',
-      },
-      {
-        name: 'api',
-        path: expectedApi,
-      },
-      {
-        name: 'checkout',
-        path: expectedCheckout,
-      },
-    ]);
+    expect(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(workspaceRoot, 'platform'), 'utf-8')).folders).toEqual(
+      expectedWorkspaceFolders([
+        {
+          path: '.',
+        },
+        {
+          name: 'api',
+          path: api,
+        },
+        {
+          name: 'checkout',
+          path: checkout,
+        },
+      ])
+    );
 
     const list = await runCLI(['workspace', 'ls', '--json'], { cwd: tempDir, env });
     expect(list.exitCode).toBe(0);
@@ -959,7 +963,6 @@ paths:
 
   it('opens a workspace through VS Code editor and agent overrides without changing stored preference', async () => {
     const api = mkdir('repos/api');
-    const expectedApi = expectedExistingPath(api);
     const web = mkdir('repos/web');
     const setup = await setupWorkspace('platform', [`api=${api}`, `web=${web}`], ['--opener', 'editor']);
     fs.rmSync(web, { recursive: true, force: true });
@@ -977,22 +980,22 @@ paths:
     const workspaceFolders = JSON.parse(
       fs.readFileSync(getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(setup.workspace.root, 'platform'), 'utf-8')
     ).folders;
-    expect(workspaceFolders).toEqual([
-      {
-        path: '.',
-      },
-      {
-        name: 'api',
-        path: expectedApi,
-      },
-    ]);
-    const editorLaunch = readLaunchLog(code.logPath);
-    expect(fs.realpathSync.native(editorLaunch.cwd)).toBe(
-      fs.realpathSync.native(setup.workspace.root)
+    expect(workspaceFolders).toEqual(
+      expectedWorkspaceFolders([
+        {
+          path: '.',
+        },
+        {
+          name: 'api',
+          path: api,
+        },
+      ])
     );
-    expect(editorLaunch.args).toEqual([
-      getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(expectedExistingPath(setup.workspace.root), 'platform'),
-    ]);
+    const editorLaunch = readLaunchLog(code.logPath);
+    expectWorkspaceLaunchLog(editorLaunch, {
+      cwd: setup.workspace.root,
+      args: [{ workspaceFile: { root: setup.workspace.root, name: 'platform' } }],
+    });
 
     const currentWorkspaceOpen = await runCLI(['workspace', 'open', '--editor', '--no-interactive'], {
       cwd: path.join(setup.workspace.root, WORKSPACE_CHANGES_DIR_NAME),
@@ -1011,14 +1014,10 @@ paths:
 
     expect(codexOpen.exitCode).toBe(0);
     const codexLaunch = readLaunchLog(codex.logPath);
-    expect(fs.realpathSync.native(codexLaunch.cwd)).toBe(
-      fs.realpathSync.native(setup.workspace.root)
-    );
-    expect(codexLaunch.args).toEqual([
-      '--add-dir',
-      expectedApi,
-      'Open this OpenSpec workspace.',
-    ]);
+    expectWorkspaceLaunchLog(codexLaunch, {
+      cwd: setup.workspace.root,
+      args: ['--add-dir', { existingPath: api }, 'Open this OpenSpec workspace.'],
+    });
     expect(readLocalState(setup.workspace.root).preferred_opener).toEqual({
       kind: 'editor',
       id: 'vscode',
@@ -1116,7 +1115,7 @@ preferred_opener:
     expect(unavailable.exitCode).toBe(1);
     expect(unavailable.stderr).toContain("'code' was not found on PATH");
     expect(unavailable.stderr).toContain(
-      getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(expectedExistingPath(platform.workspace.root), 'platform')
+      expectedWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(platform.workspace.root, 'platform')
     );
   });
 
diff --git a/test/core/workspace/foundation.test.ts b/test/core/workspace/foundation.test.ts
index f06ee6cc..4efdec3d 100644
--- a/test/core/workspace/foundation.test.ts
+++ b/test/core/workspace/foundation.test.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import {
   writeWorkspaceLocalState,
   writeWorkspaceRegistryState,
 } from '../../../src/core/workspace/index.js';
+import { expectedExistingPath } from '../../helpers/workspace-paths.js';
 
 describe('workspace foundation', () => {
   let tempDir: string;
@@ -84,10 +85,6 @@ paths: {}
     return workspaceRoot;
   }
 
-  function expectedExistingPath(existingPath: string): string {
-    return process.platform === 'win32' ? fs.realpathSync.native(existingPath) : existingPath;
-  }
-
   describe('path helpers', () => {
     it('exposes the workspace constants', () => {
       expect(WORKSPACE_METADATA_DIR_NAME).toBe('.openspec-workspace');
diff --git a/test/helpers/workspace-paths.ts b/test/helpers/workspace-paths.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2779ceee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/helpers/workspace-paths.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import { expect } from 'vitest';
+import * as fs from 'node:fs';
+
+import { getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath } from '../../src/core/workspace/index.js';
+
+/**
+ * Workspace commands canonicalize existing filesystem paths before storing,
+ * reporting, or passing them to openers. On Windows, GitHub runners can expose
+ * temp paths through short aliases such as RUNNER~1 while Node's native
+ * realpath expands them to the long user path. Use these helpers for expected
+ * workspace command paths instead of comparing raw mkdtemp/os.tmpdir strings.
+ */
+export function expectedExistingPath(existingPath: string): string {
+  return process.platform === 'win32' ? fs.realpathSync.native(existingPath) : existingPath;
+}
+
+function equivalentExistingPath(existingPath: string): string {
+  return fs.realpathSync.native(existingPath);
+}
+
+export function expectedWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(
+  workspaceRoot: string,
+  workspaceName: string
+): string {
+  return getWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(expectedExistingPath(workspaceRoot), workspaceName);
+}
+
+export function expectedWorkspaceFolders<T extends { path: string }>(folders: T[]): T[] {
+  return folders.map((folder) =>
+    folder.path === '.'
+      ? folder
+      : {
+          ...folder,
+          path: expectedExistingPath(folder.path),
+        }
+  );
+}
+
+type WorkspaceLaunchArgExpectation =
+  | string
+  | {
+      existingPath: string;
+    }
+  | {
+      workspaceFile: {
+        root: string;
+        name: string;
+      };
+    };
+
+function expectedWorkspaceLaunchArg(arg: WorkspaceLaunchArgExpectation): string {
+  if (typeof arg === 'string') {
+    return arg;
+  }
+
+  if ('existingPath' in arg) {
+    return expectedExistingPath(arg.existingPath);
+  }
+
+  return expectedWorkspaceCodeWorkspacePath(arg.workspaceFile.root, arg.workspaceFile.name);
+}
+
+export function expectedWorkspaceLaunchArgs(
+  args: WorkspaceLaunchArgExpectation[]
+): string[] {
+  return args.map(expectedWorkspaceLaunchArg);
+}
+
+export function expectWorkspaceLaunchLog(
+  actual: { cwd: string; args: string[] },
+  expected: { cwd: string; args: WorkspaceLaunchArgExpectation[] }
+): void {
+  expect(equivalentExistingPath(actual.cwd)).toBe(equivalentExistingPath(expected.cwd));
+  expect(actual.args).toEqual(expectedWorkspaceLaunchArgs(expected.args));
+}