# Does persist\_to\_workpace follow symlinks and saves hidden directories?

**URL:** <https://discuss.circleci.com/t/does-persist-to-workpace-follow-symlinks-and-saves-hidden-directories/37429>\
**Category:** Build Environment\
**Created:** [September 16, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/does-persist-to-workpace-follow-symlinks-and-saves-hidden-directories/37429 "2020-09-16T14:11:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikhailTymchukFT](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/circleci/user_avatar/discuss.circleci.com/mikhailtymchukft/32/24688_2.png) [@MikhailTymchukFT](https://discuss.circleci.com/u/MikhailTymchukFT)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://discuss.circleci.com/t/does-persist-to-workpace-follow-symlinks-and-saves-hidden-directories/37429/1 "2020-09-16T14:11:11Z")

</div>

I’m using [bazel](https://www.bazel.build/) and want to pass build artifacts from the build job to a test jobs.  
Right now I stuck at saving the `bazel-out` directory to persistent wokrspace.  
My config.yml:

```yaml
version: 2
jobs:
  build:
    machine:
      enabled: true
    working_directory: ~/root
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: *install-bazel
      - run: *configure-bazel
      - run:
          name: Build
          command: bazel --bazelrc=.circleci/.bazelrc build ...
      - persist_to_workspace:
          root: .
          paths:
            - root/bazel-out

```

Job fails at the last step saying:

```auto
The specified paths did not match any files in /home/circleci/root

```

I also tried `root/bazel-out/*` and `root/bazel-out/.`, but no luck. I think `persist_to_workspace` does not follow the symlinks. Is it true?

Also I noticed that when I use

```auto
- persist_to_workspace:
    root: .
    paths:
      - .

```

it does not save hidden directories (~/.cache, specifically). Is it also true?