different-ai/openwork · error

file-too-large

file-too-large

Error message

Download exceeds the ${maxBytes}-byte limit.

What it means

downloadBinaryToPath checks the HTTP Content-Length header before writing anything and throws code 'file-too-large' when the declared body exceeds maxBytes. This is a pre-flight guard so oversized files are rejected without consuming disk or bandwidth. The default limit is DESKTOP_TRANSFER_MAX_BYTES (250 MB) when a caller does not supply a smaller one.

Source

Thrown at apps/desktop/electron/binary-transfer.mjs:292

  let stagingFile;
  let destinationFile;
  try {
    const response = await options.fetcher(url, {
      method,
      headers,
      credentials: "omit",
      cache: "no-store",
      // The endpoint allowlist covers only the initial URL, so a redirect
      // must never be followed to an unvalidated destination.
      redirect: "error",
      signal,
    });
    if (!response.ok) {
      return { ...responseMetadata(response), body: await responseText(response), path: null, bytes: 0 };
    }
    const declaredLength = Number(response.headers.get("content-length"));
    if (Number.isFinite(declaredLength) && declaredLength > maxBytes) {
      throw transferError(`Download exceeds the ${maxBytes}-byte limit.`, "file-too-large");
    }
    await mkdir(stagingDir, { recursive: true });
    stagingPath = path.join(stagingDir, `download-${randomUUID()}.part`);
    stagingFile = await open(stagingPath, "wx+");
    const reader = response.body?.getReader();
    let bytes = 0;
    if (reader) {
      while (true) {
        signal?.throwIfAborted();
        const { done, value } = await reader.read();
        if (done) break;
        bytes += value.byteLength;
        if (bytes > maxBytes) {
          await reader.cancel();
          throw transferError(`Download exceeds the ${maxBytes}-byte limit.`, "file-too-large");
        }
        await writeAll(stagingFile, value);
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

1. Raise the maxBytes option passed to downloadBinaryToPath (or use DESKTOP_TRANSFER_MAX_BYTES) to cover the expected asset size.
2. Verify the URL points at the intended, correctly-sized resource (HEAD request first to inspect content-length).
3. If the file genuinely must exceed limits, download in chunks/ranges or stream via a different mechanism with your own quota handling.

Example fix

// before
await downloadBinaryToPath({ url, destinationPath, maxBytes: 10_000_000 }); // 10 MB limit, asset is 80 MB
// after
import { DESKTOP_TRANSFER_MAX_BYTES } from "./binary-transfer.mjs";
await downloadBinaryToPath({ url, destinationPath, maxBytes: DESKTOP_TRANSFER_MAX_BYTES });

const head = await fetch(url, { method: "HEAD" });
const len = Number(head.headers.get("content-length"));
if (Number.isFinite(len) && len > maxBytes) throw new Error(`Refusing download: ${len} bytes > ${maxBytes} limit`);

function isWithinLimit(contentLength, maxBytes) {
  return typeof contentLength === "number" && Number.isFinite(contentLength) && contentLength >= 0 && contentLength <= maxBytes;
}

try {
  await downloadBinaryToPath({ url, destinationPath, maxBytes });
} catch (e) {
  if (e?.code === "file-too-large") {
    console.error(`Asset exceeds ${maxBytes} bytes; raise maxBytes or pick a smaller artifact.`);
    return;
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling downloadBinaryToPath where the server response's content-length header is a finite number greater than maxBytes; the throw happens before any bytes are read.

Common situations: Downloading model binaries, releases, or dataset archives larger than the configured limit; a caller passing a very small maxBytes for a legitimately large asset; a misconfigured server advertising a huge file.

Related errors

• zero-byte-file
• latest-mac.yml is missing artifact path/url.
• Failed to fetch latest-mac.yml (${response.status} ${respons
• Request timed out.
• Timed out waiting for server health

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fe98f7f045de0dbc. Report an issue: GitHub.