JuliusBrussee/caveman · error

supersede begin: %w

Error message

supersede begin: %w

What it means

The SQLite transaction that implements atomic supersession could not be started (db.Begin failed). The wrapped error is the underlying database failure; no memory state was modified.

Source

Thrown at mem/store.go:213

	return stored, nil
}

// Supersede atomically replaces one current memory with a new current version.
// The old row remains durable for history and byte-exact audit, but normal recall
// excludes it. An already-expired or unknown id fails closed.
func (s *Store) Supersede(oldID, newText string) (Memory, error) {
	if strings.TrimSpace(oldID) == "" {
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("supersede requires old memory id")
	}
	if strings.TrimSpace(newText) == "" {
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot supersede with empty text")
	}
	if err := validateMemorySize(newText); err != nil {
		return Memory{}, err
	}
	tx, err := s.db.Begin()
	if err != nil {
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("supersede begin: %w", err)
	}
	defer tx.Rollback()

	var old Memory
	if err := scanMemory(tx.QueryRow(memorySelect+` WHERE id = ? AND valid_until IS NULL`, oldID), &old); err != nil {
		if err == sql.ErrNoRows {
			return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("memory %s is not current", oldID)
		}
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("read current memory: %w", err)
	}
	if old.Text == newText {
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("replacement text is identical to current memory")
	}
	newID := memID(newText)
	var exists int
	if err := tx.QueryRow(`SELECT COUNT(*) FROM memories WHERE id = ?`, newID).Scan(&exists); err != nil {
		return Memory{}, fmt.Errorf("check replacement memory: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 766dce6b13)

Solutions

1. Retry the supersede
2. Check mem.db is writable and not exclusively locked
3. Inspect the wrapped driver error

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at mem/store.go:213 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of JuliusBrussee/caveman@766dce6b13 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ff7b2748813654ce. Report an issue: GitHub.