Analyzer build or dependency runtime changed during…

Error message

Analyzer build or dependency runtime changed during analysis; refusing to stamp metadata. Retry with a stable GitNexus installation.

What it means

finalizeAnalyzerRunnerIdentity() re-resolves the analyzer identity immediately before metadata is stamped into the index and compares it to the identity captured when analysis started (analyzerRunnerIdentitiesEqual). Any difference — build digest change, dependency runtime change, version change — means the installation mutated during the run, so results would be stamped with inconsistent provenance and the run is rejected with retry guidance.

Solutions

Re-run the analysis after the installation change completes; the retry will capture a consistent identity.
Freeze the tool version during long jobs (pin gitnexus@<version> in CI, disable auto-update).
Do not run npm install or gitnexus embeddings install while an analyze is in progress.
For MCP servers, restart the server after upgrading so it never straddles two installs.

Example fix

# before: upgrade lands mid-run
T1: npx gitnexus analyze --embeddings   # long run
T2: npm install -g gitnexus@latest
# Analyzer build or dependency runtime changed during analysis; refusing to stamp metadata. Retry with a stable GitNexus installation.

# after: pin and sequence
T2: (wait for T1 to finish)
npx gitnexus@1.14.0 analyze --embeddings

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// Prevent mid-run upgrades: pin the version in CI and disable auto-update.
// Example GitHub Actions step:
//   - run: npx gitnexus@1.14.0 analyze --embeddings   # pinned, immutable during the job

Try / catch

try {
  await runAnalysis();
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('refusing to stamp metadata')) {
    // Install changed mid-run: re-run once against the now-stable installation
    return runAnalysis();
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Pin the gitnexus version (npx gitnexus@x.y.z) for long jobs so upgrades cannot land mid-run.
Do not run npm install -g or gitnexus embeddings install while analysis is active.
Restart MCP servers after every upgrade so identity start/end match one install.
Schedule rebuild/upgrade windows that do not overlap big-repository indexing.

When it happens

Trigger: A long analyze run during which the GitNexus installation changes: upgrading gitnexus mid-run, npm install rewriting node_modules, embeddings stack installing concurrently, or a dev watcher rebuilding dist/. At finalize time the re-resolved identity != startedWith.

Common situations: Auto-updaters or CI patching the tool during a job, a user running npm install -g gitnexus while an analyze/MCP session is active, or scheduled rebuild tasks overlapping long indexing runs on big repositories.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@52924ef12c (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d1bd1bcf0e1a51e1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at gitnexus/src/core/analyzer-identity.ts:2870

export async function captureAnalyzerIdentityBeforeLoad<T>(
  analyzerModuleUrl: string,
  loader: () => Promise<T>,
  options: AnalyzerIdentityResolveOptions = {},
): Promise<{ runnerIdentity: AnalyzerRunnerIdentity; loaded: T }> {
  const runnerIdentity = resolveAnalyzerRunnerIdentity(analyzerModuleUrl, options);
  const loaded = await loader();
  return { runnerIdentity, loaded };
}

/** Re-resolve immediately before commit and reject analyzer mutation mid-run. */
export function finalizeAnalyzerRunnerIdentity(
  analyzerModuleUrl: string,
  startedWith: AnalyzerRunnerIdentity,
  options: AnalyzerIdentityResolveOptions = {},
): AnalyzerRunnerIdentity {
  const finalIdentity = resolveAnalyzerRunnerIdentity(analyzerModuleUrl, options);
  if (!analyzerRunnerIdentitiesEqual(startedWith, finalIdentity)) {
    throw new Error(
      'Analyzer build or dependency runtime changed during analysis; refusing to stamp metadata. ' +
        'Retry with a stable GitNexus installation.',
    );
  }
  return finalIdentity;
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 52924ef12c)