EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin · error · Error

Failed to fetch branch '${branch}'. ${fetchErr.trim()}

Error message

Failed to fetch branch '${branch}'. ${fetchErr.trim()}

What it means

When the requested branch is already present in an existing local clone, `plugin-path` refreshes it with `git fetch origin <branch>` inside the repo and then hard-resets. This error fires when the fetch exits non-zero, with git's stderr embedded — typically because the branch no longer exists on the remote or the remote is unreachable.

Source

Thrown at src/commands/plugin-path.ts:103

    stderr: "pipe",
  })
  const exitCode = await proc.exited
  const stderr = await new Response(proc.stderr).text()
  if (exitCode !== 0) {
    throw new Error(`Failed to clone branch '${branch}' from ${source}. ${stderr.trim()}`)
  }
}

async function fetchAndCheckout(repoDir: string, branch: string): Promise<void> {
  const fetch = Bun.spawn(["git", "fetch", "origin", branch], {
    cwd: repoDir,
    stdout: "pipe",
    stderr: "pipe",
  })
  const fetchExit = await fetch.exited
  const fetchErr = await new Response(fetch.stderr).text()
  if (fetchExit !== 0) {
    throw new Error(`Failed to fetch branch '${branch}'. ${fetchErr.trim()}`)
  }

  const reset = Bun.spawn(["git", "reset", "--hard", `origin/${branch}`], {
    cwd: repoDir,
    stdout: "pipe",
    stderr: "pipe",
  })
  const resetExit = await reset.exited
  const resetErr = await new Response(reset.stderr).text()
  if (resetExit !== 0) {
    throw new Error(`Failed to reset to origin/${branch}. ${resetErr.trim()}`)
  }
}

function resolveGitHubSource(): string {
  const override = process.env.COMPOUND_PLUGIN_GITHUB_SOURCE
  if (override && override.trim()) return override.trim()
  return "https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin"

View on GitHub (pinned to c9c10f8c75)

Solutions

  1. Confirm the branch still exists: `git ls-remote --heads <source> <branch>`; if deleted, pick another branch.
  2. Delete the cached clone/target directory so the next run does a fresh clone instead of a fetch.
  3. Fix network/proxy or refresh git credentials, then retry.
  4. If COMPOUND_PLUGIN_GITHUB_SOURCE changed recently, clear the old clone that still points at the previous remote.

Example fix

// before (branch deleted upstream, cached clone fetch fails)
plugin-path compound-engineering --branch feat/old-branch
// after
rm -rf <cached-target-dir> && plugin-path compound-engineering
Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// Ensure the remote branch still exists before refreshing a cached clone
const out = Bun.spawnSync(["git", "ls-remote", "--heads", source, branch])
if (!out.stdout.toString().trim()) console.warn(`Branch ${branch} gone from remote; use a fresh clone or another branch`)

Try / catch

try {
  const p = await pluginPath(plugin, { branch })
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith("Failed to fetch branch")) {
    // stale cache: wipe and re-clone
    fs.rmSync(targetDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
    return pluginPath(plugin, { branch })
  } else throw e
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Re-running `plugin-path --branch <name>` against a cached clone when: the remote branch was deleted (fetch fails), network/auth failure contacting origin, or the source override changed so 'origin' points somewhere else.

Common situations: Feature branch merged and deleted upstream; stale cached clone from a previous run; VPN/proxy down; expired GitHub credentials.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin@c9c10f8c75 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d22226cfe16b2e1e. Report an issue: GitHub.