gastownhall/beads · error

check commit existence: %w

Error message

check commit existence: %w

What it means

CommitExists wraps a failed COUNT(*) query over dolt_log (exact hash or prefix via LIKE) as "check commit existence: <underlying>". The library throws it because the existence probe itself failed at the SQL level — it does not mean the commit is absent (that returns (false, nil)). Causes mirror the other dolt_log readers: non-Dolt database, missing dolt_log table, or connection/context failure.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/versioncontrolops/version_control.go:90

}

// CommitExists checks whether a commit hash (or prefix) exists in dolt_log.
// Returns false for empty strings or malformed input.
func CommitExists(ctx context.Context, db DBConn, commitHash string) (bool, error) {
	if commitHash == "" {
		return false, nil
	}
	if err := issueops.ValidateRef(commitHash); err != nil {
		return false, nil
	}

	var count int
	err := db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `
		SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dolt_log
		WHERE commit_hash = ? OR commit_hash LIKE ?
	`, commitHash, commitHash+"%").Scan(&count)
	if err != nil {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("check commit existence: %w", err)
	}
	return count > 0, nil
}

// Merge merges the named branch into the current branch. The author string
// should be formatted as "Name <email>". Returns any merge conflicts.
//
// This runs as a bare DOLT_MERGE under autocommit, so a real conflict makes
// Dolt reject the implicit transaction (Error 1105: "@autocommit must be
// disabled so that merge conflicts can be resolved ...") before dolt_conflicts
// can even be inspected — conflicts = error here, same as plain `dolt merge`
// with no further flags. Callers that want the flag Dolt's error names —
// resolve-then-commit on conflict — must use MergeWithStrategy instead, which
// runs the merge on a pinned session with the conflict-tolerant flags set
// (#4992).
func Merge(ctx context.Context, db DBConn, branch, author string) ([]storage.Conflict, error) {
	_, err := db.ExecContext(ctx, "CALL DOLT_MERGE('--author', ?, ?)", author, branch)
	if err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Verify the db is Dolt-initialized and has commits (SELECT 1 FROM dolt_log LIMIT 1).
2. Check you are querying the database that actually contains the commit.
3. Retry if the wrapped error is transient (connection reset, deadline exceeded).
4. Treat non-transient unknown-table errors as 'database not initialized' and initialize it before checking hashes.

Example fix

// before
ok, err := versioncontrolops.CommitExists(ctx, db, "abc123") // empty/uninitialized db
// after
// initialize the Dolt database (dolt init + first commit) first
ok, err := versioncontrolops.CommitExists(ctx, db, "abc123")

if commitHash == "" { return false, nil }
if err := issueops.ValidateRef(commitHash); err != nil { return false, nil }
var n int
if err := db.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT 1 FROM dolt_log LIMIT 1").Scan(&n); err != nil {
    return false, fmt.Errorf("no commit history in this database: %w", err)
}

ok, err := versioncontrolops.CommitExists(ctx, db, hash)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "check commit existence") {
        // treat as 'cannot verify' rather than 'does not exist'
        return fmt.Errorf("existence check unavailable: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling CommitExists on a db without dolt_log (never Dolt-initialized or zero commits); cancelled ctx; broken/stale connection.

Common situations: Validating a hash copied from another repo/directory that has no local dolt_log; running during embedded engine startup before the db is ready; wrong database pointed at.

Related errors

• table name cannot be empty
• check pending changes before commit: %w
• dolt add %s: %w
• check staged changes before commit: %w
• dolt commit: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a945900fe220d42d. Report an issue: GitHub.