OpenBMB/ChatDev · error · WorkflowExecutionError

Failed to copy workflow file

Error message

Failed to copy workflow file

What it means

copy_workflow reads the source file and writes it to the target inside one try/except; any IO failure (source unreadable, target unwritable, disk full) is logged and re-raised as WorkflowExecutionError with source/target details.

Source

Thrown at server/services/workflow_storage.py:196

        raise ResourceNotFoundError(
            "Workflow file not found",
            resource_type="workflow",
            resource_id=source_safe,
        )

    if target_path.exists():
        raise ResourceConflictError(
            "Target workflow already exists",
            resource_type="workflow",
            resource_id=target_safe,
        )

    logger = get_server_logger()
    try:
        target_path.write_text(source_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"), encoding="utf-8")
    except Exception as exc:
        logger.log_exception(exc, f"Failed to copy workflow file {source_safe} to {target_safe}")
        raise WorkflowExecutionError(
            "Failed to copy workflow file",
            details={"source": source_safe, "target": target_safe},
        )

    logger.info(
        "Workflow file copied",
        log_type=LogType.WORKFLOW,
        source=source_safe,
        target=target_safe,
        action="copy",
    )

View on GitHub (pinned to 4fb2db0ea9)

Solutions

1. Check logs for the underlying exception
2. Verify read permission on source and write permission on the directory
3. Retry once after re-validating both files' existence
4. Free disk space

Example fix

# before
copy_workflow_file(sid, src, tgt)
# after
try:
    copy_workflow_file(sid, src, tgt)
except WorkflowExecutionError:
    if not workflow_exists(sid, src):
        raise ResourceGone(src)
    raise

assert (directory/src).is_file() and os.access(directory, os.W_OK)

try:
    copy_workflow_file(sid, src, tgt)
except WorkflowExecutionError as e:
    handle_io_failure(e.details)  # check source gone vs perms vs disk

When it happens

Trigger: Permissions changed between the existence check and the read/write; source deleted concurrently (TOCTOU); disk full; read-only volume for the target.

Common situations: Container with read-only workflows mount; concurrent deletion; quota exhausted.

Related errors

• Failed to save workflow file
• Destination already exists: {destination}
• Failed to rename workflow file
• Failed to update workflow id after rename
• 1

AI-assisted analysis of OpenBMB/ChatDev@4fb2db0ea9 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/77fc3bea5a428db9. Report an issue: GitHub.