aaif-goose/goose · error

Failed to submit elicitation response: {}

Error message

Failed to submit elicitation response: {}

What it means

In Agent's reply handling, when an incoming message is detected as a response to a pending elicitation, complete_elicitation_with_message runs: it claims the pending response (claim_response), appends the elicitation response message to the session, then submits the outcome to the waiting tool. This error wraps any failure in that chain — most often claim_response rejecting the claim (request not found / already completed / channel closed / wrong session) or the session add_message write failing.

Source

Thrown at crates/goose/src/agents/agent.rs:1898

                    // The success path returns an empty stream after the MCP
                    // server receives the user's accept/decline/cancel action.
                    let response = match action {
                        ElicitationAction::Accept => ElicitationOutcome::Accept(user_data.clone()),
                        ElicitationAction::Decline => ElicitationOutcome::Decline,
                        ElicitationAction::Cancel => ElicitationOutcome::Cancel,
                        _ => ElicitationOutcome::Cancel,
                    };
                    crate::elicitation::complete_elicitation_with_message(
                        &session_manager,
                        &session_config.id,
                        id,
                        response,
                        &user_message,
                    )
                    .await
                    .map_err(|e| {
                        error!("Failed to submit elicitation response: {}", e);
                        anyhow!("Failed to submit elicitation response: {}", e)
                    })?;
                    return Ok(Box::pin(futures::stream::empty()));
                }
            }
        }

        if super::state_machine::enabled()
            || super::state_machine::bang_shell_command(&message_text_for_trace).is_some()
        {
            tracing::info!("dispatching reply via experimental state machine");
            return self
                .reply_with_state_machine(user_message, session_config, cancel_token)
                .await;
        }

        let message_text = message_text_for_trace;

        let session = session_manager

View on GitHub (pinned to 3810898a74)

Solutions

1. Answer pending elicitations promptly, within the waiter's timeout
2. Send the response in the same session that issued the request
3. If the elicitation already expired, send the content as a normal chat message instead
4. Inspect the wrapped {e}: 'Request not found'/'Response channel closed' mean expired; storage errors mean a session-file problem

// Only route a message as an elicitation response if the id is still open:
let still_pending = session_manager
    .action_required()
    .pending // internal access in embedded builds
    .read()
    .await
    .contains_key(elicitation_id);
if !still_pending {
    // deliver as a plain user message instead
}

fn elicitation_submit_failed(e: &anyhow::Error) -> bool {
    e.to_string().contains("Failed to submit elicitation response")
}

match complete_elicitation_with_message(/* ... */).await {
    Err(e) if elicitation_submit_failed(&e) => {
        let cause = e.source().map(|s| s.to_string()).unwrap_or_default();
        if cause.contains("Request not found") || cause.contains("closed") {
            // expired/duplicate answer: fall through to normal reply handling
        } else {
            return Err(e); // storage failure — surface it
        }
    }
    Ok(()) => {}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Answering an elicitation that already timed out (pending entry removed) or was already answered; sending the elicitation response from a different session_id than the one that issued it; session storage failure while recording the response message.

Common situations: User answers a permission prompt after the tool's wait timed out; UI retry/double-send of the same elicitation answer; resumed session replaying an old elicitation response message as new input.

Related errors

• Request not found: {}
• Timeout waiting for user response
• Could not resolve model config: {error}
• Session {} has no conversation
• Provider not set

AI-assisted analysis of aaif-goose/goose@3810898a74 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48e99a7c3dd9caca. Report an issue: GitHub.