chenhg5/cc-connect · error

start: %s (%w)

Error message

start: %s (%w)

What it means

Start() wraps a failure of `systemctl start cc-connect`, including systemctl's stdout in the message. It means the service could not be started, either because systemctl itself failed to talk to systemd or because the service unit failed to activate.

Source

Thrown at daemon/systemd.go:108

	if _, err := runSystemctl(m.sysArgs("disable", "--now", systemdServiceName)...); err != nil {
		slog.Warn("systemd: disable failed", "error", err)
	}

	unitPath := m.unitPath()
	if err := os.Remove(unitPath); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
		return fmt.Errorf("remove unit: %w", err)
	}

	if _, err := runSystemctl(m.sysArgs("daemon-reload")...); err != nil {
		slog.Warn("systemd: daemon-reload failed", "error", err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (m *systemdManager) Start() error {
	out, err := runSystemctl(m.sysArgs("start", systemdServiceName)...)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("start: %s (%w)", out, err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (m *systemdManager) Stop() error {
	out, err := runSystemctl(m.sysArgs("stop", systemdServiceName)...)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("stop: %s (%w)", out, err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (m *systemdManager) Restart() error {
	out, err := runSystemctl(m.sysArgs("restart", systemdServiceName)...)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("restart: %s (%w)", out, err)
	}
	return nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 4000b2338a)

Solutions

1. Read the embedded systemctl stdout for the activation failure reason.
2. Ensure the unit is installed: `systemctl cat cc-connect` (install first if missing).
3. Confirm systemd is running: `systemctl is-system-running`; enable it in WSL2 via /etc/wsl.conf.
4. Check service logs: `journalctl -u cc-connect -e` for ExecStart errors.

Example fix

// before
mgr.Start() // start: Failed to start cc-connect.service: Unit is masked
// after
if st, _ := mgr.Status(); st == nil || !st.Running {
    return fmt.Errorf("cc-connect unit not installed; run install first")
}
mgr.Start()

if _, err := os.Stat(mgr.unitPath()); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("unit not installed; run install first")
}
if out, err := exec.Command("systemctl", "is-system-running").Output(); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("systemd unavailable (%s): %w", strings.TrimSpace(string(out)), err)
}

func serviceStartable(unitPath string) bool {
    if _, err := os.Stat(unitPath); err != nil { return false }
    return exec.Command("systemctl", "is-system-running").Run() == nil
}

if err := mgr.Start(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not loaded") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") {
        return fmt.Errorf("install the unit first: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Start when the unit is not installed, systemd is not running (WSL2/containers), the service is masked, or the service's ExecStart fails immediately.

Common situations: Start called before Install; WSL2 without systemd=true in wsl.conf; the configured agent binary missing from PATH for the service user; unit disabled and masked by an admin.

Understand the failure class

Background: ECONNREFUSED and "connection refused" / "could not connect to server" errors: what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 44 libraries.

Related errors

• systemctl %s: %s (%w)
• stop: %s (%w)
• restart: %s (%w)
• antigravitySession: stdout pipe: %w
• antigravitySession: start: %w

AI-assisted analysis of chenhg5/cc-connect@4000b2338a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/74887c10851affe6. Report an issue: GitHub.