private function normalizePipePath($path)
{
// Prepend slash if missing
if (empty($path) || $path[0] !== '/') {
$path = '/' . $path;
}
// Trim trailing slash if present
if (strlen($path) > 1 && '/' === substr($path, -1)) {
$path = rtrim($path, '/');
}
return $path;
}