Hmbown/CodeWhale · error

git archive origin/main failed

Error message

git archive origin/main failed: {}

What it means

materialize_ops_origin_main runs `git archive origin/main` into a buffer to materialize the ops (AUTO_MERGE / check script) tree from the remote-tracking main branch. This error wraps the git command's non-zero exit and surfaces git's own stderr.

Solutions

  1. Run `git fetch origin main` to create/update the origin/main ref
  2. Verify `git rev-parse origin/main` resolves in the repo
  3. Check remote configuration (`git remote -v`) and add/repair origin if missing
  4. Inspect the wrapped stderr in the message for the underlying git cause

Example fix

// before (shell)
materialize_ops_origin_main(...)  # assumes origin/main exists
// after (shell)
git fetch origin main && materialize_ops_origin_main(...)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

let has_ref = std::process::Command::new("git").args(["rev-parse","--verify","origin/main"]).output().map(|o| o.status.success()).unwrap_or(false);

Try / catch

match materialize_ops_origin_main(dest) { Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("git archive origin/main failed") => { run_cmd("git fetch origin main")?; retry_once(materialize_ops_origin_main, dest)?; } other => other?, }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: `git archive origin/main` exits non-zero — origin/main ref missing or stale, repository without that remote branch, corrupt objects, or git not able to read the ref.

Common situations: Fresh clone where origin/main has not been fetched; repo checked out without the origin remote; shallow clone lacking the ref; network-fetch failures leaving origin/main absent.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@73e0f67d83 (2026-09-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c1a78316fa10341f. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/operate.rs:893

    fs::create_dir_all(&dest).with_context(|| format!("Failed to create {}", dest.display()))?;
    let archive = Command::new("git")
        .arg("-C")
        .arg(&repo)
        .args([
            "archive",
            "origin/main",
            "--",
            "DIRECTION.md",
            CHECK_AUTO_MERGE_SCRIPT,
            AUTO_MERGE_SCRIPT,
            AUTO_MERGE_PR_SCRIPT,
            "agent-workstreams/AUTO_MERGE.toml",
        ])
        .stdin(Stdio::null())
        .output()
        .context("git archive origin/main")?;
    if !archive.status.success() {
        anyhow::bail!(
            "git archive origin/main failed: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&archive.stderr).trim()
        );
    }
    let mut child = Command::new("tar")
        .arg("-x")
        .arg("-C")
        .arg(&dest)
        .stdin(Stdio::piped())
        .stdout(Stdio::null())
        .stderr(Stdio::piped())
        .spawn()
        .context("tar extract ops origin/main")?;
    if let Some(mut stdin) = child.stdin.take() {
        use std::io::Write;
        stdin.write_all(&archive.stdout)?;
    }
    let status = child.wait()?;

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