coleam00/Archon · error

Failed to get active workflow run: ${err.message}

Error message

Failed to get active workflow run: ${err.message}

What it means

getActiveWorkflowRun looks up the non-terminal workflow run for a conversation and normalizes the row. Any pool.query failure is logged (db.workflow_run_get_active_failed) and rethrown with this message. It signals the DB access layer failed, not that no active run exists (that returns null).

Source

Thrown at packages/core/src/db/workflows.ts:539

    getLog().error({ err }, 'db.workflow_run_get_status_failed');
    throw new Error(`Failed to get workflow run status: ${err.message}`);
  }
}

export async function getActiveWorkflowRun(conversationId: string): Promise<WorkflowRun | null> {
  try {
    const result = await pool.query<WorkflowRun>(
      `SELECT * FROM remote_agent_workflow_runs
       WHERE (conversation_id = $1 OR parent_conversation_id = $2) AND status = 'running'
       ORDER BY started_at DESC LIMIT 1`,
      [conversationId, conversationId]
    );
    const row = result.rows[0];
    return row ? normalizeWorkflowRun(row) : null;
  } catch (error) {
    const err = error as Error;
    getLog().error({ err }, 'db.workflow_run_get_active_failed');
    throw new Error(`Failed to get active workflow run: ${err.message}`);
  }
}

/**
 * Find a paused workflow run for a conversation (or its parent).
 * Used by the message handler to give the chat agent the open approval gate as
 * context for the turn (#2565).
 * Non-throwing: returns null on DB error so the caller can fall through to normal routing.
 */
export async function getPausedWorkflowRun(conversationId: string): Promise<WorkflowRun | null> {
  try {
    const result = await pool.query<WorkflowRun>(
      `SELECT * FROM remote_agent_workflow_runs
       WHERE (conversation_id = $1 OR parent_conversation_id = $2) AND status = 'paused'
       ORDER BY started_at DESC LIMIT 1`,
      [conversationId, conversationId]
    );
    const row = result.rows[0];

View on GitHub (pinned to 0773b97458)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped err.message / log event db.workflow_run_get_active_failed for the driver-level cause.
2. Confirm migrations have created workflow_runs in the target database.
3. Check pool health and connection limits (max_connections, pool size config).
4. Restore DB connectivity, then retry; the call is read-only and safe to repeat.

Example fix

// before
const run = await getActiveWorkflowRun(conversationId);
// after
let run: WorkflowRun | null = null;
try {
  run = await getActiveWorkflowRun(conversationId);
} catch (err) {
  getLog().error({ err }, 'chat.active_run_lookup_failed');
}

const ping = await pool.query('SELECT 1'); // cheap reachability check

function isActiveRunLookupError(err: unknown): err is Error {
  return err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('Failed to get active workflow run:');
}

try {
  const run = await getActiveWorkflowRun(conversationId);
} catch (err) {
  // Distinguish 'DB failed' (throw) from 'no run' (null) — only the wrapper throws.
  reportDbFailure(err);
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getActiveWorkflowRun(conversationId) while the DB is down, the workflow_runs schema is absent or stale, the connection pool is exhausted, or a driver-level timeout fires on the SELECT ... WHERE conversation_id = $1 AND status NOT IN terminal query.

Common situations: DB migration not applied before app start; Postgres max_connections reached; network partition between app and database; wrong environment pointing at a database without the workflow tables.

Understand the failure class

Background: Database query failed: Internal Server Error 500s wrapping SQL, Prisma, and connection failures — what to check first — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to get workflow run status: ${err.message}
• Corrupt commands JSON for codebase ${id}: unable to parse st
• Codebase ${codebaseId} not found
• Conversation not found: ${conversationId}
• Resumable run snapshot changed during reset (expected ${Stri

AI-assisted analysis of coleam00/Archon@0773b97458 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7501d090312f4340. Report an issue: GitHub.