eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error

No active workflow. Start or resume a workflow first.

Error message

No active workflow. Start or resume a workflow first.

What it means

WorkflowService.getStatus() reads status from an internal WorkflowOrchestrator that only exists after startWorkflow() or resumeWorkflow() creates it. If this.orchestrator is undefined (no workflow was ever started in this session, or it was finalized/aborted which sets it to undefined), the service throws instead of returning a null/empty status. It is a guard against querying a lifecycle that does not exist.

Source

Thrown at packages/tm-core/src/modules/workflow/services/workflow.service.ts:296

			await this.stateManager.save(newState);
		});

		// Initialize activity logger to continue tracking events
		this.activityLogger = new WorkflowActivityLogger(
			this.orchestrator,
			this.stateManager.getActivityLogPath()
		);
		this.activityLogger.start();

		return this.getStatus();
	}

	/**
	 * Get current workflow status
	 */
	getStatus(): WorkflowStatus {
		if (!this.orchestrator) {
			throw new Error('No active workflow. Start or resume a workflow first.');
		}

		const context = this.orchestrator.getContext();
		const progress = this.orchestrator.getProgress();
		const currentSubtask = this.orchestrator.getCurrentSubtask();

		return {
			taskId: context.taskId,
			phase: this.orchestrator.getCurrentPhase(),
			tddPhase: this.orchestrator.getCurrentTDDPhase(),
			branchName: context.branchName,
			currentSubtask: currentSubtask
				? {
						id: currentSubtask.id,
						title: currentSubtask.title,
						attempts: currentSubtask.attempts,
						maxAttempts: currentSubtask.maxAttempts || 3
					}

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Call startWorkflow() (or resumeWorkflow() if persisted state exists) before any status queries
2. Check the error message and route the caller to start a workflow; e.g. catch and call resumeWorkflow() if a state file exists
3. Do not call status-returning APIs after finalizeWorkflow()/abortWorkflow(); treat the workflow as done
4. If a state file exists but the in-memory orchestrator is gone, construct a new WorkflowService and resumeWorkflow()

Example fix

// before
const status = workflowService.getStatus();
// after
let status;
try {
  status = workflowService.getStatus();
} catch {
  status = await workflowService.resumeWorkflow(); // or startWorkflow(...) if no state
}

// assume workflowService exposes hasActiveWorkflow or track started state yourself
function canGetStatus(svc: WorkflowService, startedInProcess: boolean): boolean {
  return startedInProcess || hasStateFile('.taskmaster/workflow-state.json');
}

function isNoActiveWorkflowError(e: unknown): e is Error {
  return e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('No active workflow');
}

try {
  const status = workflowService.getStatus();
} catch (e) {
  if (isNoActiveWorkflowError(e)) {
    const status = await workflowService.resumeWorkflow(); // or startWorkflow()
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getStatus() (directly or via startWorkflow/resumeWorkflow/completePhase/commit/finalizeWorkflow return paths) on a fresh WorkflowService instance; calling it after finalizeWorkflow() or abortWorkflow() cleared this.orchestrator; calling it before startWorkflow() in a new process where no persisted state was resumed.

Common situations: An MCP autopilot_status call issued before autopilot_start; a long-running agent session restarted and the caller forgot to resumeWorkflow(); calling finalizeWorkflow() twice (the second call hits this because orchestrator is undefined after the first); state file deleted while the service still thinks it might resume.

Related errors

• Workflow has been aborted
• Cannot finalize workflow in ${phase} phase. Complete all sub
• CONFIG_ERROR
• CONFIG_ERROR
• Workflow state file not found at ${this.statePath}

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/845a82478e3a2506. Report an issue: GitHub.