gastownhall/beads · error

creating compound: %w

Error message

creating compound: %w

What it means

bondProtoProtoInto creates the compound issue via w.CreateIssue; if the write fails the bonding operation aborts with this wrapped error, before any dependencies are linked.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/mol_bond.go:339

	// rather than in a write of its own: a create decides which table the row
	// goes to, and carrying the labels with it means one decision places both.
	// The separate write this replaces was made through molWriter.AddLabel,
	// whose two implementations each resolved the plane again by a different
	// predicate, so the row and its label were free to disagree.
	compound := &types.Issue{
		Title:       compoundTitle,
		Description: fmt.Sprintf("Compound proto bonding %s and %s", protoA.ID, protoB.ID),
		Status:      types.StatusOpen,
		Priority:    minPriority(protoA.Priority, protoB.Priority),
		IssueType:   types.TypeEpic,
		Labels:      []string{MoleculeLabel},
		BondedFrom: []types.BondRef{
			{SourceID: protoA.ID, BondType: bondType, BondPoint: ""},
			{SourceID: protoB.ID, BondType: bondType, BondPoint: ""},
		},
	}
	if err := w.CreateIssue(ctx, compound, actorName); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating compound: %w", err)
	}
	compoundID := compound.ID

	// Add parent-child dependencies from compound to both proto roots
	depA := &types.Dependency{
		IssueID:     protoA.ID,
		DependsOnID: compoundID,
		Type:        types.DepParentChild,
	}
	if err := w.AddDependency(ctx, depA, actorName); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("linking proto A: %w", err)
	}

	depB := &types.Dependency{
		IssueID:     protoB.ID,
		DependsOnID: compoundID,
		Type:        types.DepParentChild,
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped inner error for the driver-level cause.
2. Ensure no other bd process holds the DB lock; retry the bond command.
3. Check disk space/permissions on the .beads storage, then re-run.

// pre-check storage writable/lock-free
if err := w.CreateIssue(ctx, probe, actorName); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, someExpected) { /* fail fast */ }

compound, err := bondProtoProtoInto(ctx, w, protoA, protoB, bt, actor)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "creating compound:") {
        // storage write failed; check locks/disk and retry
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: w.CreateIssue(ctx, compound, actorName) errors during `bd mol bond` of two protos — destination DB lock, ID collision, or driver write failure.

Common situations: Another bd process holds the database lock, or storage is read-only/full while a bond automation runs.

Related errors

• linking proto A: %w
• ErrExec
• database not available: %w
• not using Dolt backend (configured backend %q)
• no storage backend is open

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3ad934e9eaef5ca2. Report an issue: GitHub.