eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error

WRITE_ERROR

WRITE_ERROR

Error message

Error writing updated configuration to configuration file

What it means

The language value was valid and the in-memory config was updated, but writeConfig(currentConfig, projectRoot) returned falsy when persisting to disk, so the response-language change was NOT saved. Like CONFIG_WRITE_ERROR but from the response-language module, it indicates a filesystem-level persistence failure.

Source

Thrown at scripts/modules/task-manager/response-language.js:62

		return {
			success: false,
			error: {
				code: 'INVALID_RESPONSE_LANGUAGE',
				message: `Invalid response language: ${lang}. Must be a non-empty string.`
			}
		};
	}

	try {
		const currentConfig = getConfig(projectRoot);
		currentConfig.global.responseLanguage = lang;
		const writeResult = writeConfig(currentConfig, projectRoot);

		if (!writeResult) {
			return {
				success: false,
				error: {
					code: 'WRITE_ERROR',
					message: 'Error writing updated configuration to configuration file'
				}
			};
		}

		return {
			success: true,
			data: {
				responseLanguage: lang,
				message: successMessage
			}
		};
	} catch (error) {
		report('error', `Error setting response language: ${error.message}`);
		return {
			success: false,
			error: {
				code: 'SET_RESPONSE_LANGUAGE_ERROR',

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Fix permissions: `sudo chown $(whoami) .taskmaster/config.json && chmod u+w .taskmaster/config.json`, then retry.
2. Verify free disk space / quota (`df -h .`) and clean up if the volume is full.
3. If the environment is read-only (Docker/CI artifact checkout), mount it writable or run the command in a writable environment.
4. Ensure .taskmaster/ still exists (`task-master init` to recreate) and that no other process holds the file open.

Example fix

// before
$ task-master response-language --set spanish // WRITE_ERROR (file owned by root)
// after
$ sudo chown $(whoami) .taskmaster/config.json
$ task-master response-language --set spanish

const fs = require('fs');
const cfgPath = require('path').join(projectRoot, '.taskmaster', 'config.json');
fs.accessSync(cfgPath, fs.constants.W_OK); // throws EACCES early if not writable
await setResponseLanguage(lang, projectRoot);

const res = await setResponseLanguage(lang, projectRoot);
if (!res.success && res.error?.code === 'WRITE_ERROR') {
  console.error(`Failed to persist config in ${projectRoot} — check file permissions and disk space`);
  process.exitCode = 1;
}

When it happens

Trigger: writeConfig fails while saving the updated config: read-only filesystem or file (EACCES), missing .taskmaster directory, disk full, immutable file attribute, or the file being locked by another process/editor.

Common situations: Containers/CI mounts that are read-only; config file owned by root or another user; SELinux/sandbox policies blocking writes; disk quota exceeded; .taskmaster deleted between the existence check and the write.

Related errors

• CONFIG_WRITE_ERROR
• CONFIG_ERROR
• Failed to read file ${filePath}: ${error.message}
• Failed to read ${filePath} for modification: ${err.message}
• Failed to create directory ${dirPath}: ${error.message}

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/626e490f8736497a. Report an issue: GitHub.