alibaba/spring-ai-alibaba · error · RuntimeException

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

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.

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

View on GitHub (pinned to f82da0b50f)

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

• ${response.getResult()}
• Async tool execution failed
• RuntimeException wrapping transaction failure (no literal me
• Language not recognized in code execution:{language}
• Failed to delete JAR files from working directory

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