benbjohnson/litestream · error

check remote position: %w

Error message

check remote position: %w

What it means

checkForConflict lists the remote LTX files at level 0 starting from the expected TXID to determine the remote replication position. If f.client.LTXFiles() fails, the conflict check cannot run, so sync aborts with this wrapped error. It indicates the replica client could not enumerate remote objects (network, credentials, storage backend error).

Source

Thrown at vfs.go:2068

	// Clear dirty pages
	f.dirty = make(map[uint32]int64)

	// Clear write buffer after successful sync
	if err := f.clearWriteBuffer(); err != nil {
		f.logger.Error("failed to clear write buffer", "error", err)
		return fmt.Errorf("clear write buffer: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

// checkForConflict checks if the remote has newer transactions than expected.
// Must be called with f.mu held.
func (f *VFSFile) checkForConflict(ctx context.Context) error {
	// Get latest remote position
	itr, err := f.client.LTXFiles(ctx, 0, f.expectedTXID, false)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("check remote position: %w", err)
	}
	defer itr.Close()

	var remoteTXID ltx.TXID
	for itr.Next() {
		info := itr.Item()
		if info.MaxTXID > remoteTXID {
			remoteTXID = info.MaxTXID
		}
	}
	if err := itr.Close(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("iterate remote files: %w", err)
	}

	// If remote has advanced beyond our expected position, we have a conflict
	if remoteTXID > f.expectedTXID {
		f.logger.Warn("conflict detected",
			"expected", f.expectedTXID,

View on GitHub (pinned to 4ed7a308f6)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped underlying error: if it is an HTTP/auth error, verify replica credentials and bucket/container config first.
2. Retry the sync — LTXFiles failures during transient network/storage outages are typically recoverable.
3. Confirm the replica client configuration (endpoint, region, bucket) with a read-only listing (e.g. litestream ltx) against the same storage.
4. Check provider status pages / rate limits if errors cluster during compaction windows.

// verify remote reachability before relying on sync
itr, err := client.LTXFiles(ctx, 0, 0, false)
if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("replica unreachable: %w", err) }
itr.Close()

err := db.Sync(ctx)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "check remote position") {
    return retry.WithBackoff(ctx, 3, db.Sync) // transient storage errors
}

When it happens

Trigger: During sync, remote position check calls client.LTXFiles(ctx, 0, expectedTXID, false) and the storage backend returns an error: network outage, expired/invalid credentials, bucket/missing container, rate limiting, or S3-compatible API error.

Common situations: Transient cloud-storage outages (S3 5xx); rotated access keys not yet updated in config; wrong bucket/container name; corporate proxy or firewall blocking egress; provider rate limits during heavy compaction.

Related errors

• replica sync: %w
• fetch ltx files: %w
• cannot determine L%d max ltx file for %q: %w
• write ltx file: %w
• list level %d ltx files: %w

AI-assisted analysis of benbjohnson/litestream@4ed7a308f6 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fb935ac906e555fb. Report an issue: GitHub.