abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus · error · GitNexusRcError

Could not read

Error message

Could not read ${GITNEXUS_RC_FILENAME}: ${(err as Error).message}

What it means

loadAnalyzeConfig could not read .gitnexusrc for a reason other than 'file does not exist' (ENOENT returns undefined — no config is the normal case). Typical causes surfaced through the wrapped message: EACCES (permission denied), EISDIR (the path is a directory), or EMFILE/ENFILE (fd exhaustion). The underlying Node error message is appended.

Solutions

1. Inspect the file: ls -la .gitnexusrc and stat it — the appended Node message tells you the exact code (EACCES vs EISDIR)
2. Fix permissions/ownership: chmod 644 .gitnexusrc (or chown to the running user)
3. If it is a directory, remove it and recreate as a regular JSON file
4. In containers, ensure the volume mount and run uid can read the repo root

Example fix

# before
$ ls -la .gitnexusrc  # -rw------- root root
# after
$ sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) .gitnexusrc && chmod 644 .gitnexusrc

import { accessSync, constants } from 'node:fs';
try {
  accessSync('.gitnexusrc', constants.R_OK);
} catch {
  console.error('.gitnexusrc is not readable by this uid — fix ownership/permissions');
}

try {
  loadAnalyzeConfig(repoRoot);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof GitNexusRcError && err.message.includes('Could not read')) {
    const code = (err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code;
    if (code === 'EACCES') { /* chmod/chown the file */ }
    if (code === 'EISDIR') { /* it is a directory — recreate as a file */ }
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: chmod 000 .gitnexusrc or ownership mismatch under root-vs-user runs; .gitnexusrc accidentally created as a directory; read-only container filesystems; too many open files in long-lived processes.

Common situations: Running analyze in Docker as a different uid than the file owner; sudo-created .gitnexusrc later read by a normal user; CI cache restoring the path as a directory; security tooling locking the file.

Related errors

• exceeds bytes
• must be a regular file
• GitNexus could not move the LadybugDB WAL sidecar at
• is not valid JSON: . Expected a JSON object such as .
• must contain a JSON object.

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@ac9a4e9abd (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8808c7ca7dba36b7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at gitnexus/src/cli/analyze-config.ts:368

  }

  return out;
};

/**
 * Locate, read, parse, validate, and normalize `.gitnexusrc` at `repoRoot`.
 *
 * @returns the normalized config defaults, or `undefined` when no file exists
 *          (the normal case). Throws {@link GitNexusRcError} on any problem.
 */
export function loadAnalyzeConfig(repoRoot: string): Partial<AnalyzeOptions> | undefined {
  const filePath = path.join(repoRoot, GITNEXUS_RC_FILENAME);
  let raw: string;
  try {
    raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf-8');
  } catch (err) {
    if ((err as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === 'ENOENT') return undefined;
    throw new GitNexusRcError(`Could not read ${GITNEXUS_RC_FILENAME}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
  }

  return parseAnalyzeConfig(raw);
}

/** Load `.gitnexusrc` through the strict bounded reader used by watch mode. */
export async function loadAnalyzeConfigStrict(
  repoRoot: string,
): Promise<Partial<AnalyzeOptions> | undefined> {
  let raw: string | null;
  try {
    raw = await readRepoControlFile(repoRoot, GITNEXUS_RC_FILENAME);
  } catch (err) {
    throw new GitNexusRcError(`Could not read ${GITNEXUS_RC_FILENAME}: ${(err as Error).message}`);
  }
  return raw === null ? undefined : parseAnalyzeConfig(raw);
}

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