What causes "Session was not staged: ${descriptor.path}" in chatboxai/chatbox?

Ensure the reading phase routes every isBackupSessionPath entry through the session staging branch.

Session was not staged: ${descriptor.path}

Error message

Session was not staged: ${descriptor.path}

What it means

Thrown in the restore loop when a manifest session descriptor's staged entry has no tempKey - the session.json was never staged into temp storage during reading. Reading always assigns a tempKey for session paths (lines 240-243), so this is a defensive guard against a staging/validation gap. Propagates after rollback.

Source

Thrown at src/renderer/packages/backup/import-backup.ts:312

      for (const target of plan.targets) {
        if (!target.needsWrite) continue
        newResourceKeys.push(target.targetKey)
        await options.storage.setBlob(target.targetKey, value)
      }
      completedResources++
      options.onProgress?.({
        phase: 'restoring',
        current: completedResources,
        total: resourcePlans.length + manifest.sessions.length,
        label: plan.resource.filename,
      })
    }

    for (let index = 0; index < manifest.sessions.length; index++) {
      throwIfAborted(options.signal)
      const descriptor = manifest.sessions[index]
      const tempKey = stagedEntries.get(descriptor.path)?.tempKey
      if (!tempKey) throw new Error(`Session was not staged: ${descriptor.path}`)
      const stagedSession = await options.storage.getItem<Session | null>(tempKey, null)
      if (!isBackupSession(stagedSession) || stagedSession.id !== descriptor.id) {
        throw new Error(`Session id does not match manifest: ${descriptor.path}`)
      }
      let session = restoreSessionResourceKeys(stagedSession, resourceKeyMap)
      if (options.rehydrateSession) {
        const rehydrated = await options.rehydrateSession(session)
        session = rehydrated.session
        importWarnings.push(...rehydrated.warnings)
        if (rehydrated.rollback) rehydrationRollbacks.push(rehydrated.rollback)
      }
      await options.storage.setItemNow(backupSessionStorageKey(session.id), session)

      const meta = restoreSessionMetaResourceKeys(descriptor.meta, resourceKeyMap)
      const existingMeta = await options.metaStorage.getById(session.id)
      previousMeta.set(session.id, existingMeta)
      changedMetaIds.push(session.id)
      if (existingMeta) await options.metaStorage.update(session.id, meta)

View on GitHub (pinned to 81571269ad)

Solutions

Ensure the reading phase routes every isBackupSessionPath entry through the session staging branch.
Do not skip validateManifestEntries before restore.
Regenerate the backup.
Report as a code defect if it reproduces with a valid archive.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// No data fix; verify the reading phase staged every session with a tempKey.
for (const s of manifest.sessions) {
  if (!stagedEntries.get(s.path)?.tempKey) throw new Error('Session not staged: ' + s.path)
}

Try / catch

try {
  await importBackupArchive(file, options)
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error && error.message.startsWith('Session was not staged')) {
    // Defensive guard; normally unreachable. Regenerate the backup and retry.
    throw new Error('Session staging incomplete', { cause: error })
  }
  throw error
}

Prevention

Keep the session reading branch (isBackupSessionPath) assigning a tempKey for every session.json.
Do not bypass validateManifestEntries before the restore loop.
Avoid mutating stagedEntries mid-import.

When it happens

Trigger: stagedEntries.get(descriptor.path)?.tempKey is undefined for a session descriptor during the restore phase.

Common situations: Unreachable under the normal reading+validation flow because reading stages every session.json under a tempKey and validateManifestEntries confirms the entry is present. Reachable if validation is bypassed, the reading branch for sessions changes, or stagedEntries is mutated mid-import.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of chatboxai/chatbox@81571269ad (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/932c2d1d6fd97e93. Report an issue: GitHub.