different-ai/openwork · error

docker ps -a failed (status ${result.status})

Error message

docker ps -a failed (status ${result.status})

What it means

listOpenworkManagedContainers() in the Electron runtime shells out to `docker ps -a --format {{.Names}}` to enumerate OpenWork-managed containers. When the docker command exits with a nonzero status, it throws an Error carrying the combined stdout/stderr, or this generic message with the exit status if docker produced no output. It signals that container inventory could not be read from the local Docker daemon.

Source

Thrown at apps/desktop/electron/runtime.mjs:1702

          stderr: result.stderr ?? "",
        };
      } catch (error) {
        errors.push(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
      }
    }

    throw new Error(
      `Failed to run docker: ${errors.join("; ")} (Set OPENWORK_DOCKER_BIN to your docker binary if needed)`,
    );
  }

  const legacyOpenworkContainerPrefix = `${["openwork", "orchestrator"].join("-")}-`;

  async function listOpenworkManagedContainers() {
    const result = runDockerCommandDetailed(["ps", "-a", "--format", "{{.Names}}"], 8000);
    if (result.status !== 0) {
      const combined = `${result.stdout.trim()}\n${result.stderr.trim()}`.trim();
      throw new Error(combined || `docker ps -a failed (status ${result.status})`);
    }
    return result.stdout
      .split(/\r?\n/)
      .map((line) => line.trim())
      .filter((name) => name && (name.startsWith(legacyOpenworkContainerPrefix) || name.startsWith("openwork-dev-") || name.startsWith("openwrk-")))
      .sort();
  }

  async function runShellCommand(program, args, options = {}) {
    const result = spawnSync(program, args, {
      encoding: "utf8",
      cwd: options.cwd,
      env: options.env,
      shell: false,
      windowsHide: true,
      timeout: options.timeoutMs,
    });
    return {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

1. Start Docker Desktop / the Docker daemon (`systemctl start docker`) and verify with `docker ps -a`.
2. Confirm `docker` is on PATH (`which docker`); install Docker CLI if missing.
3. Fix permissions: add your user to the `docker` group or run the app with a user that can access /var/run/docker.sock.
4. Check that stderr in the thrown error (when non-empty) for the underlying daemon message and address it directly.

Example fix

// before
const result = runDockerCommandDetailed(["ps", "-a", "--format", "{{.Names}}"], 8000);
if (result.status !== 0) {
  throw new Error(combined || `docker ps -a failed (status ${result.status})`);
}
// after
if (!isDockerDaemonReachable()) {
  throw new Error("Docker daemon is not running. Start Docker Desktop and retry.");
}
const result = runDockerCommandDetailed(["ps", "-a", "--format", "{{.Names}}"], 8000);

import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
function isDockerReady() {
  try { execFileSync("docker", ["info", "--format", "ok"], { timeout: 5000 }); return true; }
  catch { return false; }
}

try {
  const containers = await listOpenworkManagedContainers();
} catch (err) {
  const detail = String(err.message);
  if (/Cannot connect to the Docker daemon|docker: not found|permission denied/i.test(detail)) {
    promptUserToStartDocker();
  } else {
    throw err;
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: runDockerCommandDetailed(["ps","-a","--format","{{.Names}}"], 8000) returns status !== 0 — e.g. Docker daemon not running, docker CLI missing from PATH, daemon socket permission denied, or the 8s timeout elapsing — and both stdout and stderr are empty.

Common situations: Docker Desktop is not started; the user isn't in the `docker` group on Linux; docker was uninstalled or only podman is present; Docker Desktop is still booting so the CLI is present but the daemon is unreachable and prints nothing.

Related errors

• Missing Google OAuth configuration: ${missing.join(", ")}
• github_connector_app_not_configured
• settings.environment.apply_blocked_active_tasks
• settings.environment.apply_no_local_workspace
• app.error_connect_first

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6e5a15b011d3132f. Report an issue: GitHub.