Hmbown/CodeWhale · error · anyhow::Error

another Codewhale process{} owns delegated coordination for

Error message

another Codewhale process{} owns delegated coordination for {}: {error}

What it means

Cross-process contention branch of the delegated coordination lock: acquiring the coordination lock for state_root failed, and the lock file records a pid different from this process (or an unreadable pid, shown as empty). Another live Codewhale process owns delegated coordination, so this process refuses to steal it.

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/tools/subagent/mod.rs:3179

            }
        });
        match ready_rx.recv_timeout(Duration::from_secs(5)) {
            Ok(Ok(())) => Ok(Self {
                release: Some(release_tx),
                thread: Some(thread),
            }),
            Ok(Err(error)) => {
                let _ = thread.join();
                let holder_pid = std::fs::read_to_string(&lock_path)
                    .ok()
                    .and_then(|contents| contents.trim().parse::<u32>().ok());
                if holder_pid == Some(std::process::id()) {
                    Err(anyhow!(
                        "{COORDINATION_SAME_PROCESS_HANDOVER} for {}: {error}",
                        state_root.display()
                    ))
                } else {
                    Err(anyhow!(
                        "another Codewhale process{} owns delegated coordination for {}: {error}",
                        holder_pid
                            .map(|pid| format!(" (pid {pid})"))
                            .unwrap_or_default(),
                        state_root.display()
                    ))
                }
            }
            Err(error) => {
                drop(release_tx);
                let _ = thread.join();
                Err(anyhow!(
                    "{COORDINATION_LOCK_TIMEOUT_MARKER} for {}: {error}",
                    state_root.display()
                ))
            }
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 0c42157ee5)

Solutions

1. Let the owning process (pid shown in the message) finish its coordinated work and retry afterwards
2. If that pid is dead but left a stale lock file, remove the coordination lock file under state_root
3. Avoid running two Codewhale instances against the same state root simultaneously

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/tui/src/tools/subagent/mod.rs:3179 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@0c42157ee5 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eefef4e418423f53. Report an issue: GitHub.