Failed to list due workflow continuations: ${err.message}

Error message

Failed to list due workflow continuations: ${err.message}

What it means

Thrown by listDueWorkflowContinuations when the SELECT for time/deadline waits eligible for a resume claim fails. The query mixes dialect-specific JSON expressions (metadata->'wait' for Postgres, json_extract for SQLite) on `remote_agent_workflow_runs`; any driver/SQL failure is logged as `db.workflow_continuation_due_list_failed` and rethrown with this message. An empty result is not an error — only an actual query failure throws.

Source

Thrown at packages/core/src/db/workflows.ts:1566

  const retryAt =
    getDatabaseType() === 'postgresql'
      ? "metadata->>'continuation_retry_at'"
      : "json_extract(metadata, '$.continuation_retry_at')";
  try {
    const result = await pool.query<WorkflowRun>(
      `SELECT * FROM remote_agent_workflow_runs
       WHERE (${retryAt} IS NULL OR ${retryAt} <= $1)
         AND ((status = 'paused' AND (${signaledAt} IS NOT NULL OR ${resumeAt} <= $1))
          OR (status = 'failed' AND ${scheduledResumeAt} <= $1 AND ${scheduledTriggeredAt} IS NULL))
       ORDER BY COALESCE(${retryAt}, ${resumeAt}, ${scheduledResumeAt}) ASC
       LIMIT $2`,
      [now.toISOString(), limit]
    );
    return result.rows.map(normalizeWorkflowRun);
  } catch (error) {
    const err = error as Error;
    getLog().error({ err }, 'db.workflow_continuation_due_list_failed');
    throw new Error(`Failed to list due workflow continuations: ${err.message}`);
  }
}

/** Back off a continuation that could not acquire execution prerequisites. */
export type WorkflowContinuationCursor = WorkflowResumeCursor;

export async function deferWorkflowContinuation(
  id: string,
  retryAt: string,
  cursor: WorkflowContinuationCursor
): Promise<void> {
  const dialect = getDialect();
  const waitResumeAt =
    getDatabaseType() === 'postgresql'
      ? "metadata->'wait'->>'resumeAt'"
      : "json_extract(metadata, '$.wait.resumeAt')";
  const scheduledResumeAt =
    getDatabaseType() === 'postgresql'

View on GitHub (pinned to 0773b97458)

Solutions

Read the paired `db.workflow_continuation_due_list_failed` log for the driver-level cause
Verify DB connectivity and pool health, then let the poller retry
Confirm getDatabaseType() matches the deployed schema (Postgres vs SQLite JSON syntax)
Validate metadata JSON integrity if extraction errors appear

Example fix

// before
const due = await listDueWorkflowContinuations(new Date(), 10); // throws on DB blip
// after
let due = [];
try {
  due = await listDueWorkflowContinuations(new Date(), 10);
} catch (e) {
  logger.warn({ err: e }, 'continuation scan skipped this tick');
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// cheap pre-flight: is the DB reachable?
await getDatabase().query('SELECT 1');

Type guard

function isDueContinuationCandidate(run: WorkflowRun): boolean {
  return run.status === 'paused' || run.status === 'failed';
}

Try / catch

const due = await withRetry(
  () => listDueWorkflowContinuations(now, limit),
  { retries: 3, backoffMs: 500, onRetry: (e, n) => log.warn({ e, n }, 'retrying continuation scan') }
);

Prevention

Run the continuation poller with tolerant retry/backoff around DB blips
Keep run metadata JSON valid; validate before persisting
Test after switching SQLite/Postgres so dialect expressions are exercised
Alert on repeated `db.workflow_continuation_due_list_failed` events

When it happens

Trigger: Calling listDueWorkflowContinuations(now, limit) when the database is unreachable, the parameter types are rejected (e.g. now not serializing to ISO), or a dialect JSON-path expression is invalid for the configured engine.

Common situations: Database down or pool exhausted while the continuation poller runs; switching database types without migrating so JSON expressions no longer match; corrupted JSON in a metadata column making extraction fail on some engines.

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

AI-assisted analysis of coleam00/Archon@0773b97458 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c3c83ffdf1e71c3. Report an issue: GitHub.