What causes "getting current directory: %w" in AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome?

cd into a stable directory (e.g. /var/lib/adguardhome) before running the service action

getting current directory

Error message

getting current directory: %w

What it means

handleRun failed to obtain the current working directory with os.Getwd before building the service configuration. On Unix this fails when the process's cwd has been deleted or is unreadable.

Solutions

cd into a stable directory (e.g. /var/lib/adguardhome) before running the service action
Restart the shell/process if its cwd was deleted
In containers, set a persistent WORKDIR in the image

Example fix

# before
cd /tmp/build-123 && ./AdGuardHome -s run

# after
cd /var/lib/adguardhome && ./AdGuardHome -s run

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if pwd, err := os.Getwd(); err != nil {
    os.Chdir("/var/lib/adguardhome") // recover to a stable cwd
}

Prevention

Launch services from persistent directories
Set WORKDIR explicitly in containers and unit files

When it happens

Trigger: Running the 'service run' control action from a directory that was removed after the shell/process started, or in containers where the workdir was deleted or replaced.

Common situations: Starting AdGuard Home from a temp/build directory that gets cleaned up, or container setups where the working directory is an overlay that vanished.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of AdguardTeam/AdGuardHome@b41aefbe51 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e358f5e3609bbec7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at internal/home/service.go:99

	p.logger.InfoContext(p.ctx, "stopping: waiting for cleanup")

	aghos.SendShutdownSignal(p.signals)

	// Wait for other goroutines to complete their job.
	<-p.done

	return nil
}

// handleRun runs p.
func (p *program) handleRun(
	ctx context.Context,
	baseLogger *slog.Logger,
	opts options,
) (err error) {
	pwd, err := os.Getwd()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("getting current directory: %w", err)
	}

	args := optsToArgs(opts)
	baseLogger.DebugContext(ctx, "using", "args", args)

	svcConfig := &service.Config{
		Name:             serviceName,
		DisplayName:      serviceDisplayName,
		Description:      serviceDescription,
		WorkingDirectory: pwd,
		Arguments:        args,
	}
	ossvc.ConfigureServiceOptions(svcConfig, p.clock.Now(), version.Full())

	s, err := service.New(p, svcConfig)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("initializing service: %w", err)
	}

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