alyssaxuu/screenity · error · Error

Failed to create video project

Error message

Failed to create video project

What it means

Thrown when neither storage (projectId/multiProjectId), the project prefetch, nor a fresh createVideoProject() call yields a video ID. It guards against continuing the recording pipeline without a backend project to attach scenes/media to.

Source

Thrown at src/pages/CloudRecorder/CloudRecorder.jsx:7892

              multiSceneCount: multiSceneCount || 0,
            });
          }
        } else {
          // Usually already resolved by the prefetch kicked off before mic
          // acquisition; falls back to a fresh create if the prefetch saw a
          // project in storage that has since been cleared.
          videoId = await projectPrefetch;
          if (!videoId) {
            const now = new Date();
            const options = { day: "2-digit", month: "short", year: "numeric" };
            const startedAt = Date.now();
            videoId = await createVideoProject({
              title: `Untitled video - ${now.toLocaleString("en-GB", options)}`,
              instantMode: instantMode.current,
            });
            projectCreateMs = Date.now() - startedAt;
          }
          if (!videoId) throw new Error("Failed to create video project");

          if (multiMode) {
            await chrome.storage.local.set({
              multiProjectId: videoId,
              multiSceneCount: 0,
            });
          }
        }

        await chrome.storage.local.set({ projectId: videoId });
        // Fresh projects already carry hasRecordingSession, so only
        // reused ones need the hint.
        if (reusedProject) notifyRecordingStarted(videoId);
        traceStep("apiProjectCreated", {
          projectCreateMs,
          projectReused: reusedProject,
        });
        void emitUploadTelemetry("project_state_change", {

View on GitHub (pinned to 512606387b)

Solutions

1. Log the response inside createVideoProject to see why it returns falsy (network error, non-2xx, missing id in body)
2. Check auth/session validity before starting recording; expired tokens commonly make the create call fail silently
3. Confirm the prefetch promise is not being .catch()'d to null elsewhere and hiding a real error
4. Retry the recording start; transient network failures to the project-create endpoint are the usual cause

Example fix

// before
videoId = await createVideoProject({ title, instantMode: instantMode.current });
if (!videoId) throw new Error("Failed to create video project");
// after
videoId = await createVideoProject({ title, instantMode: instantMode.current });
if (!videoId) {
  const created = await createVideoProject({ title, instantMode: instantMode.current });
  videoId = created?.id ?? created;
}
if (!videoId) throw new Error("Failed to create video project");

const { projectId, multiProjectId } = await chrome.storage.local.get(["projectId", "multiProjectId"]);
const prefetchId = await projectPrefetch.catch(() => null);
if (!projectId && !multiProjectId && !prefetchId && !(await isBackendReachable())) {
  throw new Error("Cannot start: no project and backend unreachable");
}

function hasVideoId(v) {
  return typeof v === "string" && v.length > 0 || typeof v === "number" && Number.isFinite(v);
}

try {
  videoId = await createVideoProject({ title, instantMode });
} catch (err) {
  sendRecordingError("Project create failed: " + err.message);
}
if (!hasVideoId(videoId)) {
  videoId = await createVideoProject({ title, instantMode }); // one retry
}
if (!hasVideoId(videoId)) throw new Error("Failed to create video project");

When it happens

Trigger: chrome.storage.local has no projectId and no multiProjectId, projectPrefetch resolves to a falsy value, and the fallback createVideoProject({title, instantMode}) returns null/undefined instead of an ID.

Common situations: createVideoProject silently swallowing an API error (auth expired, network down, backend 5xx) and returning null instead of throwing; prefetch raced with a storage clear and lost; user's account hit a project-creation limit.

Related errors

• Failed to create scene: ${errorText}
• Failed to create Bunny video
• offscreen tab stream failed

AI-assisted analysis of alyssaxuu/screenity@512606387b (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3ed9076add6ecc4. Report an issue: GitHub.