What causes "checking custom types: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Read the wrapped cause; if config read failed, repair or regenerate the .beads configuration defining issue types

checking custom types: %w

Error message

checking custom types: %w

What it means

Wraps failures from flattenUnregisteredIssueTypes inside the cook --persist transaction. That helper checks each generated step's issue type against registered custom types and flattens unregistered ones to `task`; if the check itself fails (e.g. it cannot read the configured issue types), the whole cook --persist transaction is rolled back under this message.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/cook.go:908

	// Use labelHandler to extract labels for separate DB storage
	collectSteps(f.Steps, protoID, idMapping, nil, &issues, &deps, func(issueID, label string) {
		labels = append(labels, struct{ issueID, label string }{issueID, label})
	})

	// Collect dependencies from depends_on
	for _, step := range f.Steps {
		collectDependencies(step, idMapping, &deps)
	}

	// Create issues, labels, and dependencies in a single atomic transaction.
	// This prevents orphaned issues if label/dependency creation fails.
	err := transact(ctx, s, fmt.Sprintf("bd: cook formula %s", protoID), func(tx storage.Transaction) error {
		// Flatten unregistered step types to task (with a warning) before
		// inserting, mirroring cloneSubgraphInto (pour). Without this,
		// PrepareIssueForInsert rejects them with "invalid issue type" and
		// the whole cook --persist transaction rolls back.
		if err := flattenUnregisteredIssueTypes(ctx, storeMolWriter{DoltStorage: s, tx: tx}, issues, deps); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("checking custom types: %w", err)
		}

		// Create all issues
		if err := tx.CreateIssues(ctx, issues, actor); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create issues: %w", err)
		}

		// Add labels
		for _, l := range labels {
			if err := tx.AddLabel(ctx, l.issueID, l.label, actor); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to add label %s to %s: %w", l.label, l.issueID, err)
			}
		}

		// Add dependencies
		for _, dep := range deps {
			if err := tx.AddDependency(ctx, dep, actor); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to create dependency: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Read the wrapped cause; if config read failed, repair or regenerate the .beads configuration defining issue types
Register the custom issue types your formula steps use (or rely on flattening to task) so the check passes
Verify database/config readability and permissions inside the transaction
Re-run `bd cook --persist` after fixing; the transaction is atomic so no partial data remains

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

err := transact(ctx, s, "bd: cook formula "+protoID, func(tx storage.Transaction) error {
    if ferr := flattenUnregisteredIssueTypes(ctx, w, issues, deps); ferr != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("checking custom types: %w", ferr)
    }
    return nil
})
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "checking custom types") {
    log.Printf("type-flatten failed, transaction rolled back: %v", errors.Unwrap(err))
    // repair config/issue types, then re-run cook --persist
}

Prevention

Keep the .beads config defining issue types readable and valid
Register custom types your formulas emit, or expect flattening to task
Run `bd doctor` if config reads start failing inside transactions
Treat cook --persist as atomic: a rollback means simply fix and re-run

When it happens

Trigger: cookFormula's transaction invokes flattenUnregisteredIssueTypes with storeMolWriter and the generated issues/deps; the helper errors when it cannot read registered issue types from config or fails validating/rewriting issue types on the generated issues.

Common situations: Corrupt or unreadable .beads/config listing issue types; custom type definitions removed while formulas still emit those step types; transaction/IO error reading config inside the Dolt transaction.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0ad2c52ae587cfb. Report an issue: GitHub.