alibaba/spring-ai-alibaba · error · RuntimeException

Error executing code in Docker container

Error message

Error executing code in Docker container: {e.getMessage()}

What it means

DockerCodeExecutor.executeCodeBlocks wraps any exception raised while running code blocks inside a Docker container into a RuntimeException, preserving the original cause. This is a catch-all around Docker client calls, file mounts, and command execution, so the message text is generic and the real reason is always in the cause chain.

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause (e.getCause()) in logs — logger.error already prints it — and fix the underlying Docker issue (start daemon, fix image, fix permissions).
2. Verify Docker is reachable: run 'docker ps' with the same user that runs the JVM.
3. Confirm the configured image exists locally or is pullable ('docker pull <image>').
4. If Docker is unavailable, switch to LocalCommandlineCodeExecutor as the executor implementation.

Example fix

// before
codeExecutor.executeCodeBlocks(blocks, config); // RuntimeException with generic message
// after
try {
    codeExecutor.executeCodeBlocks(blocks, config);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    Throwable root = e.getCause();
    log.error("Docker execution failed: {}", root == null ? e : root.getMessage());
    throw e;
}

Process p = new ProcessBuilder("docker", "info").start();
if (p.waitFor(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS) && p.exitValue() != 0) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("Docker daemon unreachable");
}

try {
    result = dockerExecutor.executeCodeBlocks(blocks, config);
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    Throwable cause = e.getCause();
    log.error("Docker code execution failed: {}", cause == null ? e.getMessage() : cause.getMessage(), cause);
    throw new IllegalStateException("Code execution unavailable: " + (cause == null ? "unknown" : cause.getMessage()), e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling executeCodeBlocks (directly or via a CodeExecutionNode) when: the Docker daemon is not running or unreachable, the Docker image cannot be pulled, the bind mount / work directory cannot be created, or the container command exits abnormally and the client throws.

Common situations: Docker Desktop not started on the dev machine; user not in the docker group (permission denied on /var/run/docker.sock); image name typo or private registry requiring auth; running inside CI without Docker-in-Docker; out-of-disk causing mount failures.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Something went wrong' / 'Request failed (500)' / 'HTTP error! status: 404' — what failed HTTP requests actually mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Async tool execution failed
• ChatClient Call Return Null...
• code execution failed, exit code
• Either language or code must be provided.
• 尝试删除不存在的数据项

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/spring-ai-alibaba@f82da0b50f (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/64a1449c3b974e66. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spring-boot-starters/spring-ai-alibaba-starter-builtin-nodes/src/main/java/com/alibaba/cloud/ai/graph/node/code/DockerCodeExecutor.java:183

				}
				finally {
					// Clean up container
					dockerClient.removeContainerCmd(container.getId()).withForce(true).exec();
					// Delete temporary file
					FileUtils.deleteFile(codeExecutionConfig.getWorkDir(), filename);

					// Delete JAR files if language is Java
					if ("java".equals(language)) {
						FileUtils.deleteResourceJarFromWorkDir(hostWorkDir);
					}
				}
			}

			return new CodeExecutionResult(0, allLogs.toString());
		}
		catch (Exception e) {
			logger.error("Error executing code in Docker container", e);
			throw new RuntimeException("Error executing code in Docker container: " + e.getMessage(), e);
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void restart() {

	}

	private static class LogContainerResultCallback extends ResultCallbackTemplate<LogContainerResultCallback, Frame> {

		private final StringBuilder log = new StringBuilder();

		@Override
		public void onNext(Frame frame) {
			log.append(new String(frame.getPayload()));
		}

		@Override

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