FoundationAgents/MetaGPT · error · ValueError

Detected source code "{filename}" from an unknown origin.

Error message

Detected source code "{filename}" from an unknown origin.

What it means

Engineer._new_coding_context builds a CodingContext only when the file's dependencies trace back to a task doc and a system design doc in the repo. If neither dependency chain yields both task_doc and design_doc (and the file is not the special __init__.py scaffold), the role refuses to write code for a file of unknown provenance by raising this ValueError (also logged as an error).

Source

Thrown at metagpt/roles/engineer.py:309

        old_code_doc = await self.repo.srcs.get(filename)
        if not old_code_doc:
            old_code_doc = Document(root_path=str(self.repo.src_relative_path), filename=filename, content="")
        dependencies = {Path(i) for i in await dependency.get(old_code_doc.root_relative_path)}
        task_doc = None
        design_doc = None
        code_plan_and_change_doc = await self._get_any_code_plan_and_change() if await self._is_fixbug() else None
        for i in dependencies:
            if str(i.parent) == TASK_FILE_REPO:
                task_doc = await self.repo.docs.task.get(i.name)
            elif str(i.parent) == SYSTEM_DESIGN_FILE_REPO:
                design_doc = await self.repo.docs.system_design.get(i.name)
            elif str(i.parent) == CODE_PLAN_AND_CHANGE_FILE_REPO:
                code_plan_and_change_doc = await self.repo.docs.code_plan_and_change.get(i.name)
        if not task_doc or not design_doc:
            if filename == "__init__.py":  # `__init__.py` created by `init_python_folder`
                return None
            logger.error(f'Detected source code "{filename}" from an unknown origin.')
            raise ValueError(f'Detected source code "{filename}" from an unknown origin.')
        context = CodingContext(
            filename=filename,
            design_doc=design_doc,
            task_doc=task_doc,
            code_doc=old_code_doc,
            code_plan_and_change_doc=code_plan_and_change_doc,
        )
        return context

    async def _new_coding_doc(self, filename, dependency) -> Optional[Document]:
        context = await self._new_coding_context(filename, dependency)
        if not context:
            return None  # `__init__.py` created by `init_python_folder`
        coding_doc = Document(
            root_path=str(self.repo.src_relative_path), filename=filename, content=context.model_dump_json()
        )
        return coding_doc

View on GitHub (pinned to 11cdf466d0)

Solutions

1. Ensure the project was produced through the standard pipeline (WritePRD -> WriteDesign -> WriteTasks) so each code file depends on a task and design doc
2. If recovering, pass the correct --recover-path matching the workspace that generated the code
3. For scaffold-only files, name them __init__.py, which the method explicitly allows

deps = list(dependency)
parents = {str(i.parent) for i in deps}
if not ({"task"} & parents and {"system_design"} & parents):
    # file will be rejected; skip or re-link dependencies before calling the Engineer
    return None

try:
    doc = await engineer._new_coding_doc(filename, dependency)
except ValueError as e:
    if "unknown origin" in str(e):
        logger.warning("skipping %s: no task/design dependency", filename)
        doc = None
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: The Engineer role receives a filename whose dependencies do not include a parent of TASK_FILE_REPO and SYSTEM_DESIGN_FILE_REPO — e.g. files added outside the standard PRD->design->task pipeline, or a stale workspace with renamed task/design documents.

Common situations: Resuming/recovering a project whose docs directory drifted from the code dependencies; manually injecting extra files into the repo; document renames breaking dependency parent links.

Related errors

• No requirement document found.
• File format not supported.
• File {path} not found.
• File path is not set.
• File {data_path} not found.

AI-assisted analysis of FoundationAgents/MetaGPT@11cdf466d0 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48011c0de744f0c2. Report an issue: GitHub.