feat: sort flags for kb_exec file listings (#29840)

kb_exec silently ignored ls -t. It accepted the flag, dropped it and
returned the same undefined database order as a plain ls, so the model
believed it had a newest-first list when it did not. With a few thousand
files in a knowledge base there was no way to ask what changed recently
without reading the whole listing and comparing dates by eye.

ls, tree and find now sort their file lines by name by default, so the
same knowledge base always lists the same way. -t sorts newest first,
-S largest first and -r reverses, combinable like -at or -tr, matching
the flags the model already knows from a shell. Directories keep their
existing name order and stay grouped first. No query changes: the
timestamps and sizes were already loaded for the date and size columns.

backend/open_webui/tools/knowledge_fs.py

@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ async def _kb_ls(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge:
         if flat_mode:
             # Flat mode: build full tree (legitimate use)
             tree = await _build_directory_tree(kb_id)
-            for f in tree['files']:
+            for f in _sort_files(tree['files'], flags):
                 lines.append(f'  {f["id"]}  {f["path"]}  {_fmt_size(f)}  {_fmt_date(f)}')
             lines.append('')
             continue
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ async def _kb_ls(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge:
         # Show files at this level (filter from accessible files)
         accessible = await _get_accessible_files(user, model_knowledge, knowledge_id=kb_id)
         dir_files = [f for f in accessible if f['directory_id'] == target_dir_id]
-        for f in dir_files:
+        for f in _sort_files(dir_files, flags):
             lines.append(f'  {f["id"]}  {f["filename"]}  {_fmt_size(f)}  {_fmt_date(f)}')
 
         if not subdirs and not dir_files:
@@ -619,13 +619,24 @@ async def _kb_ls(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge:
 
     if direct_files and not target_kb_id and not dir_path:
         lines.append('Attached Files:')
-        for f in direct_files:
+        for f in _sort_files(direct_files, flags):
             lines.append(f'  {f["id"]}  {f["filename"]}  {_fmt_size(f)}  {_fmt_date(f)}')
         lines.append('')
 
     return '\n'.join(lines).rstrip()
 
 
+def _sort_files(files: list[dict], flags: set[str]) -> list[dict]:
+    """ls-style ordering: by name or path, -t newest first, -S largest first, -r reverses."""
+    if 't' in flags:
+        files = sorted(files, key=lambda f: f.get('updated_at') or 0, reverse=True)
+    elif 'S' in flags:
+        files = sorted(files, key=lambda f: f.get('size') or 0, reverse=True)
+    else:
+        files = sorted(files, key=lambda f: f.get('path') or f['filename'])
+    return files[::-1] if 'r' in flags else files
+
+
 def _fmt_size(f: dict) -> str:
     return f'{f["size"]:,} bytes' if f.get('size') else ''
 
@@ -893,7 +904,7 @@ async def _kb_find(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge
         return f'No files matching "{pattern}"{scope_str}'
 
     lines = []
-    for f in matched:
+    for f in _sort_files(matched, flags):
         kb_info = f' ({f["knowledge_name"]})' if f.get('knowledge_name') else ''
         lines.append(f'{f["id"]}  {f["filename"]}{kb_info}')
     return '\n'.join(lines)
@@ -1065,7 +1076,7 @@ async def _kb_tree(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge
         def _render_tree(parent_id, prefix='  '):
             items = []
             subdirs = _get_subdirs(tree, parent_id)
-            files = _get_files_in_dir(tree, parent_id)
+            files = _sort_files(_get_files_in_dir(tree, parent_id), flags)
             entries = [('dir', d) for d in subdirs] + [('file', f) for f in files]
 
             for idx, (etype, entry) in enumerate(entries):
@@ -1090,7 +1101,7 @@ async def _kb_tree(args: list[str], flags: set[str], user: dict, model_knowledge
 
     if direct_files and not dir_scope:
         output.append('Attached Files:')
-        for idx, f in enumerate(direct_files):
+        for idx, f in enumerate(_sort_files(direct_files, flags)):
             connector = '└── ' if idx == len(direct_files) - 1 else '├── '
             output.append(f'  {connector}{f["filename"]}')
         output.append(f'\n  0 directories, {len(direct_files)} files')
@@ -1158,6 +1169,9 @@ async def kb_exec(
       ls                              — list root files and directories
       ls docs/                        — list contents of a directory
       ls -a                           — flat list of all files with full paths
+      ls -t                           — newest modified first
+      ls -S                           — largest first
+      ls -r                           — reverse file order
       tree                            — recursive directory tree view
       tree docs/                      — subtree from a directory
       cat -n <file>                   — read file with line numbers
@@ -1172,6 +1186,7 @@ async def kb_exec(
       grep "text" *.py                — filter by extension
       find "*.md"                     — find files by glob
       find docs/ "*.md"               — find within a directory
+      find -t "*.md", tree -t         — same sort flags as ls
       wc <file>                       — line/word/char counts
       stat <file>                     — file metadata