NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · RuntimeError

Already connected

Error message

Already connected

What it means

Raised as RuntimeError by State.require_no_client() when STATE.client is already set. Commands that establish a connection (ghidra_trace_connect/listen) refuse to run twice to avoid leaking sockets; you must disconnect first.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger-agent-drgn/src/main/py/src/ghidradrgn/commands.py:110

    def require_rm(self) -> arch.DefaultRegisterMapper:
        if self.register_mapper is None:
            raise RuntimeError("No register mapper")
        return self.register_mapper


class State(object):

    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.reset_client()

    def require_client(self) -> Client:
        if self.client is None:
            raise RuntimeError("Not connected")
        return self.client

    def require_no_client(self) -> None:
        if self.client != None:
            raise RuntimeError("Already connected")

    def reset_client(self) -> None:
        self.client: Optional[Client] = None
        self.reset_trace()

    def require_trace(self) -> Trace[Extra]:
        if self.trace is None:
            raise RuntimeError("No trace active")
        return self.trace

    def require_no_trace(self) -> None:
        if self.trace != None:
            raise RuntimeError("Trace already started")

    def reset_trace(self) -> None:
        self.trace: Optional[Trace[Extra]] = None
        util.set_convenience_variable('_ghidra_tracing', "false")
        self.reset_tx()

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

  1. Call ghidra_trace_disconnect() before re-connecting.
  2. Guard: if STATE.client is not None: disconnect first.
  3. In startup scripts, make connect idempotent by checking require_no_client only when client is None.

Example fix

// before
ghidra_trace_connect(address)  # RuntimeError: Already connected
// after
if STATE.client is not None:
    ghidra_trace_disconnect()
ghidra_trace_connect(address)
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if STATE.client is not None:
    raise RuntimeError('already connected; call ghidra_trace_disconnect first')
# or just disconnect:
if STATE.client is not None:
    ghidra_trace_disconnect()

Type guard

def is_disconnected() -> bool:
    return getattr(STATE, 'client', None) is None

Try / catch

try:
    ghidra_trace_connect(address)
except RuntimeError as e:
    if 'Already connected' in str(e):
        ghidra_trace_disconnect(); ghidra_trace_connect(address)
    else:
        raise

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ghidra_trace_connect() or ghidra_trace_listen() while a previous connection is still active.

Common situations: Re-running a connect script without an intervening ghidra_trace_disconnect(); a connect that partially succeeded and left client set.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8f33d34b7ba89b04. Report an issue: GitHub.