alibaba/open-code-review · error

%s is not a git repository

Error message

%s is not a git repository

What it means

When the target directory exists but `git rev-parse --git-dir` fails (or returns nothing) and requireGit is true, resolveWorkingDir rejects it with `<path> is not a git repository`. The review path requires a git repo because it sources diffs and HEAD content via git; the scan path (requireGit=false) tolerates non-repos instead.

Source

Thrown at cmd/opencodereview/shared.go:151

func resolveWorkingDir(input string, requireGit bool) (string, bool, error) {
	if input == "" {
		wd, err := os.Getwd()
		if err != nil {
			return "", false, fmt.Errorf("get working directory: %w", err)
		}
		input = wd
	}
	absPath, err := filepath.Abs(input)
	if err != nil {
		return "", false, fmt.Errorf("resolve absolute path: %w", err)
	}
	if _, statErr := os.Stat(absPath); statErr != nil {
		return "", false, fmt.Errorf("stat %s: %w", absPath, statErr)
	}
	out, err := runGitCmd(absPath, "rev-parse", "--git-dir")
	isGit := err == nil && len(out) > 0
	if !isGit && requireGit {
		return "", false, fmt.Errorf("%s is not a git repository", absPath)
	}
	// #287: git reports diff and `git show HEAD:<path>` paths relative to the
	// repository root, not the current directory. When `ocr review` runs from a
	// subdirectory of a monorepo, anchor RepoDir at the git top-level so those
	// root-relative paths resolve for both disk reads and git-show reads.
	// requireGit is true only for the review path; scan (requireGit=false) keeps
	// the CWD so its `git ls-files` walk stays scoped to the subdirectory.
	if isGit && requireGit {
		// runGitCmdStdout captures stdout only so git stderr notices can't
		// pollute the resolved path. --show-toplevel fails (or is empty) when
		// there is no work tree — e.g. a bare repo, where --git-dir succeeds so
		// isGit is true. Fail loudly there instead of silently reusing the
		// subdir, which would reproduce the #287 root-relative-path bug.
		top, topErr := runGitCmdStdout(absPath, "rev-parse", "--show-toplevel")
		t := strings.TrimSpace(string(top))
		if topErr != nil || t == "" {
			return "", false, fmt.Errorf("%s is a git repository without a work tree (bare repo?); cannot resolve its top level for review", absPath)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5cf97d0d15)

Solutions

1. Run ocr review from inside a cloned git repository, or pass --dir pointing at one
2. If the code came from a ZIP, git clone it instead so .git exists
3. Check and unset stray GIT_DIR/GIT_WORK_TREE environment variables
4. Repair or re-clone the repository if .git is corrupted

Example fix

// before
cd ~/downloads/myrepo-zip && ocr review   # no .git
// after
git clone https://host/myrepo.git && cd myrepo && ocr review

out, err := exec.Command("git", "-C", dir, "rev-parse", "--git-dir").Output()
if err != nil || len(bytes.TrimSpace(out)) == 0 {
	return fmt.Errorf("%s is not a git repository; clone it first", dir)
}

if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not a git repository") {
		// guide user to git clone instead of failing blind
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `ocr review` in a plain directory with no .git, inside a .git directory itself, in a worktree with corrupt git metadata, or with GIT_DIR misconfigured so rev-parse fails.

Common situations: Forgotten clone/downloaded ZIP of a repo (no .git); running from a random project folder; corrupted .git after a failed checkout; CI artifact extraction without git metadata; GIT_DIR/GIT_WORK_TREE env overrides pointing elsewhere.

Related errors

• get diffs: %w
• "%q %s" (+ positional signature, valid values, usage line, e
• read background file %q: %w
• background file %q is a directory, not a file
• background file %q is %d bytes, exceeding the maximum of %d

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/open-code-review@5cf97d0d15 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/103dbd5ddc7355f7. Report an issue: GitHub.