dagger/dagger · error

remote workspace %q: parsing git ref: %w

Error message

remote workspace %q: parsing git ref: %w

What it means

loadWorkspaceFromRemote wraps any error from parseWorkspaceRemoteRef with this prefix, indicating the remote workspace ref could not be parsed as a git URL/ref (bad URL scheme, invalid fragment, or invalid subdir).

Source

Thrown at engine/server/session_workspaces.go:363

	if subdir == "" {
		return ".", nil
	}
	subdir = filepath.Clean(subdir)
	subdir = strings.TrimPrefix(subdir, string(filepath.Separator))
	if subdir == "" || subdir == "." {
		return ".", nil
	}
	if !filepath.IsLocal(subdir) {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("path points outside repository: %q", subdir)
	}
	return subdir, nil
}

// loadWorkspaceFromRemote clones a git repo and detects/loads the workspace from it.
func (srv *Server) loadWorkspaceFromRemote(ctx context.Context, client *daggerClient, remoteRef string) error {
	parsedRef, err := parseWorkspaceRemoteRef(ctx, remoteRef)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("remote workspace %q: parsing git ref: %w", remoteRef, err)
	}

	tree, gitRef, err := srv.cloneGitTree(ctx, client.dag, parsedRef.cloneRef, parsedRef.version)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("remote workspace %q: %w", remoteRef, err)
	}

	resolveLocalRef := func(ws *workspace.Workspace, relPath string) string {
		subPath := filepath.Join(ws.Root, relPath)
		return core.GitRefString(parsedRef.cloneRef, subPath, parsedRef.version)
	}

	return srv.detectAndLoadWorkspaceWithRootfs(ctx, client,
		&core.DirectoryStatFS{Dir: tree},
		func(ctx context.Context, path string) ([]byte, error) {
			return core.DirectoryReadFile(ctx, tree, path)
		},
		parsedRef.workspaceSubdir,

View on GitHub (pinned to 82ba2681db)

Solutions

1. Validate the ref is a full git URL (git ls-remote or url.Parse) before declaring it
2. Fix the #fragment syntax: #<ref> and #<ref>:<subdir> as supported by the parser
3. Check the wrapped cause for the subdir normalization error and correct the subdir
4. If the target is local, ensure the local dir exists so the remote branch isn't attempted

Example fix

// before
// workspace: github.com/me/proj#main:/bad/../sub (unparseable)
// after
// workspace: https://github.com/me/proj.git#main:sub

u, err := url.Parse(ref)
if err != nil || (u.Scheme == "" && !strings.HasPrefix(ref, "git@")) {
    return fmt.Errorf("ref %q is not a parsable git URL", ref)
}

if err := ensureWorkspaceLoaded(ctx, client, mode, ref); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "parsing git ref") {
        return fmt.Errorf("workspace ref %s is not a valid git ref; use https://host/repo.git[#ref[:subdir]]", ref)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: loadWorkspaceFromDeclaredRef falls back to the remote path and passes a ref that parseWorkspaceRemoteRef cannot parse — malformed git URL, unsupported scheme, or invalid #fragment subdir.

Common situations: Ref missing a valid git remote part; fragment subdir violating normalizeWorkspaceRemoteSubdir rules; user passing a plain directory name that isn't a git URL at all.

Related errors

• parse hunk header %q: %w
• invalid signature %q
• invalid signature date %q
• parse timestamp: %w
• failed to parse rev-list output: %w

AI-assisted analysis of dagger/dagger@82ba2681db (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/97bf628a340fc9d4. Report an issue: GitHub.