charmbracelet/crush · warning · ErrServerNotIdle

server is hosting live workspaces

Error message

server is hosting live workspaces

What it means

ErrServerNotIdle reports that a shutdown request was refused because the server is still hosting live workspaces (or is midway through creating one). Shutdown is only permitted when the server has nothing in flight; the backend returns this from handlePostControl to protect running work. The client-side equivalent is ErrServerBusy.

Source

Thrown at internal/backend/backend.go:41

	"github.com/charmbracelet/crush/internal/skills"
	"github.com/charmbracelet/crush/internal/ui/util"
	"github.com/charmbracelet/crush/internal/version"
	"github.com/google/uuid"
)

// Common errors returned by backend operations.
var (
	ErrWorkspaceNotFound       = errors.New("workspace not found")
	ErrLSPClientNotFound       = errors.New("LSP client not found")
	ErrAgentNotInitialized     = errors.New("agent coordinator not initialized")
	ErrPathRequired            = errors.New("path is required")
	ErrInvalidPermissionAction = errors.New("invalid permission action")
	ErrUnknownCommand          = errors.New("unknown command")
	ErrInvalidClientID         = errors.New("invalid client_id")
	ErrClientNotAttached       = errors.New("client not attached")
	ErrWorkspaceClosing        = errors.New("workspace closing")
	ErrServerShuttingDown      = errors.New("server is shutting down")
	ErrServerNotIdle           = errors.New("server is hosting live workspaces")
	ErrClientRetired           = errors.New("client has been retired")
	ErrChannelOptInMismatch    = errors.New("requested channels differ from the existing workspace; channels are an explicit opt-in and are not shared across duplicate creates")
)

// DefaultCreateGrace is the window in which a client must open an SSE
// stream after creating a workspace before its creation hold is
// released. Exposed as a package variable so tests can shorten it.
var DefaultCreateGrace = 30 * time.Second

// DefaultIdleShutdownDelay is how long the server stays alive after its
// last workspace is released before it shuts itself down. The delay
// exists so a client that closes one session and opens another moments
// later (the same directory or a different one) reuses the still-running
// server instead of racing its shutdown: with an immediate shutdown the
// new client can attach to — or create a workspace on — a server that is
// already tearing down, and then observe its coder agent as "offline".
// Any workspace create within the window cancels the pending shutdown.
// Overridable via CRUSH_SERVER_IDLE_TIMEOUT (seconds; 0 restores the

View on GitHub (pinned to 7944b8e522)

Solutions

  1. Release/teardown all live workspaces first, then retry the shutdown
  2. Treat the refusal as 'keep using the server' — continue working against it instead of forcing exit
  3. Wait out DefaultCreateGrace (30s) or the in-flight create before retrying

Example fix

// before
if err := client.ShutdownServerIfIdle(ctx); err != nil { return err }
// after
if err := client.ShutdownServerIfIdle(ctx); err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, client.ErrServerBusy) {
        return nil // keep using the server; it still has live workspaces
    }
    return err
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Type guard

func isErrServerNotIdle(err error) bool {
    return errors.Is(err, backend.ErrServerNotIdle)
}

Try / catch

for {
    err := client.ShutdownServerIfIdle(ctx)
    if err == nil || !errors.Is(err, client.ErrServerBusy) {
        return err
    }
    select {
    case <-ctx.Done():
        return ctx.Err()
    case <-time.After(time.Second):
    }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Posting a control shutdown request (handlePostControl) while at least one live workspace exists or a workspace create is in its grace window; calling ShutdownServerIfIdle on a server with active clients.

Common situations: A version-mismatched client asking the server to stand down while other clients still use it; automation scripts stopping the shared server while an editor session is open; create grace (DefaultCreateGrace) still ticking for a workspace the caller forgot about.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of charmbracelet/crush@7944b8e522 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cdb4c8639cf6f0d3. Report an issue: GitHub.