affaan-m/ECC · warning · Error

Work item ${target.id} is already done; cannot claim.

Error message

Work item ${target.id} is already done; cannot claim.

What it means

Thrown by claimWorkItem when the resolved target item has a status in DONE_STATUSES (done, closed, resolved, merged, cancelled). Once a card is in a terminal lane it cannot be claimed again — claiming implies moving it to 'running', which would resurrect completed work and corrupt the board history. This differs from the no-id queue path, which simply skips done items via isOpenStatus.

Source

Thrown at scripts/lib/control-pane/work-item-mutations.js:69

/**
 * Claim an unassigned work item for an agent or human. Sets the owner (and
 * optional assigneeKind) and moves the card to running unless an explicit
 * status is supplied. Returns { claimed, item } or { claimed: false, reason }.
 */
function claimWorkItem(store, { id, owner, assigneeKind, sessionId, status } = {}) {
  if (!owner) {
    throw new Error('claim requires an owner.');
  }
  const kind = assigneeKind ? String(assigneeKind).toLowerCase() : null;
  if (kind && !VALID_ASSIGNEE_KINDS.has(kind)) {
    throw new Error("assigneeKind must be 'agent' or 'human'.");
  }
  const target = selectClaimTarget(store, { id });
  if (!target) {
    return { claimed: false, reason: 'no-unassigned-open-items' };
  }
  if (!isOpenStatus(target.status)) {
    throw new Error(`Work item ${target.id} is already done; cannot claim.`);
  }
  const metadata = { ...(target.metadata || {}) };
  if (kind) {
    metadata.assigneeKind = kind;
  }
  const item = store.upsertWorkItem({
    ...target,
    owner,
    sessionId: sessionId ?? target.sessionId ?? null,
    status: status ?? 'running',
    metadata,
    updatedAt: new Date().toISOString()
  });
  return { claimed: true, item };
}

/**
 * Move a work item to a kanban lane (ready | running | blocked | done).

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Refresh and re-check the item's status before claiming; if done, abort or pick a different item.
2. Wrap claim in try/catch and treat this specific message as a benign 'already finished' signal rather than an error.
3. For the JIT queue (no id), this never happens because selectClaimTarget filters by isOpenStatus — prefer omitting id.
4. Reduce the list→claim window to minimize TOCTOU races.

Example fix

// before
claimWorkItem(store, { id, owner });

// after — check freshness, treat done as skip
const fresh = store.getWorkItemById(id);
if (fresh && ['done','closed','resolved','merged','cancelled'].includes(String(fresh.status).toLowerCase())) {
  return { claimed: false, reason: 'already-done' };
}
claimWorkItem(store, { id, owner });

const DONE = new Set(['done','closed','resolved','merged','cancelled']);
if (id) {
  const item = store.getWorkItemById(id);
  if (item && DONE.has(String(item.status).toLowerCase())) {
    return { claimed: false, reason: 'already-done' };
  }
}

function isOpenItem(item) {
  const DONE = new Set(['done','closed','resolved','merged','cancelled']);
  return item && !DONE.has(String(item.status).toLowerCase());
}

try {
  claimWorkItem(store, { id, owner });
} catch (e) {
  if (/already done/.test(e.message)) { return { claimed: false, reason: 'already-done' }; }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling claimWorkItem with an explicit id whose item was closed/done between the list read and the claim (TOCTOU); claiming by id that another worker already moved to done; UI showing a stale card that was resolved.

Common situations: Race between two agents: one finishes (moves to done) while the other tries to claim; a stale board view; manual status edit set the item to 'done' out of band.

Related errors

• Work item not found: ${id}
• claim requires an owner.
• assigneeKind must be 'agent' or 'human'.
• move requires a work item id.
• Invalid lane '${lane}'. Expected one of ${[...VALID_LANES].j

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/75caacc4ff4aaf48. Report an issue: GitHub.