eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error · AuthenticationError

CLEAR_FAILED

CLEAR_FAILED

Error message

Failed to clear context: ${(error as Error).message}

What it means

ContextStore.clearContext deletes the context file (unlinkSync) when it exists. Any filesystem error during deletion is wrapped as AuthenticationError with code CLEAR_FAILED including the OS message. It is invoked by the logout flow.

Source

Thrown at packages/tm-core/src/modules/auth/services/context-store.ts:160

	clearUserContext(): void {
		const existing = this.getContext();
		if (existing) {
			const { selectedContext, ...rest } = existing;
			this.saveContext(rest);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Clear all context
	 */
	clearContext(): void {
		try {
			if (fs.existsSync(this.contextPath)) {
				fs.unlinkSync(this.contextPath);
				this.logger.debug('Cleared context from disk');
			}
		} catch (error) {
			throw new AuthenticationError(
				`Failed to clear context: ${(error as Error).message}`,
				'CLEAR_FAILED',
				error
			);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Check if context exists
	 */
	hasContext(): boolean {
		return this.getContext() !== null;
	}

	/**
	 * Get context file path
	 */
	getContextPath(): string {

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Check/fix permissions on the context file and its directory (chown/chmod)
2. Close other processes holding the file and retry logout
3. If only permissions block it, delete the file manually and rerun
4. Catch AuthenticationError code CLEAR_FAILED and fall back to manual cleanup instructions

Example fix

// before
await auth.logout(); // CLEAR_FAILED on locked file
// after
try {
  await auth.logout();
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof AuthenticationError && e.code === 'CLEAR_FAILED') {
    console.warn('Remove context file manually:', contextPath);
  }
}

import fs from 'fs';
if (fs.existsSync(contextPath)) {
  fs.accessSync(contextPath, fs.constants.W_OK); // throws early if not deletable
  fs.unlinkSync(contextPath);
}

function isClearFailedError(e: unknown): e is AuthenticationError {
  return e instanceof AuthenticationError && e.code === 'CLEAR_FAILED';
}

try {
  await auth.logout();
} catch (e) {
  if (isClearFailedError(e)) {
    console.warn('Could not delete context file automatically:', e.message);
    console.warn(`Remove it manually: rm ${contextPath}`);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling clearContext (e.g. during logout) when unlinkSync fails: permission denied on the file or parent directory, file locked by another process, or read-only filesystem.

Common situations: Context file owned by another user (ran as sudo earlier); Windows file lock from another CLI instance; read-only mounted config dir in containers/CI.

Related errors

• SAVE_FAILED
• Failed to get brief creation URL
• NOT_AUTHENTICATED
• START_FLOW_FAILED
• INTERNAL_ERROR

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b1a1845e0dc37bfd. Report an issue: GitHub.