gastownhall/beads · error

db: ListRemotes: query: %w

Error message

db: ListRemotes: query: %w

What it means

This error indicates the SQL query 'SELECT name, url FROM dolt_remotes' itself failed while listing remotes. It wraps the database driver error; rows were never returned, so the failure is at query execution, not row parsing.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/domain/db/remote.go:41

func (r *remoteSQLRepositoryImpl) AddRemote(ctx context.Context, name, url string) error {
	if err := r.vc.Remote(ctx, "add", name, url); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("db: AddRemote %s: %w", name, err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (r *remoteSQLRepositoryImpl) RemoveRemote(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
	if err := r.vc.Remote(ctx, "remove", name); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("db: RemoveRemote %s: %w", name, err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (r *remoteSQLRepositoryImpl) ListRemotes(ctx context.Context) ([]domain.Remote, error) {
	rows, err := r.runner.QueryContext(ctx, "SELECT name, url FROM dolt_remotes")
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: ListRemotes: query: %w", err)
	}
	defer rows.Close()

	var remotes []domain.Remote
	for rows.Next() {
		var rem domain.Remote
		if err := rows.Scan(&rem.Name, &rem.URL); err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: ListRemotes: scan: %w", err)
		}
		remotes = append(remotes, rem)
	}
	if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("db: ListRemotes: rows: %w", err)
	}
	return remotes, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause after 'query:' for the driver error
2. Verify the database is initialized and dolt_remotes exists (bd doctor / dolt schema check)
3. Check SQL server connectivity and credentials
4. Retry on transient connection errors; fail fast on missing-schema errors by running initialization

Example fix

// before
remotes, err := store.ListRemotes(ctx)
// after
remotes, err := store.ListRemotes(ctx)
if err != nil && dberrors.IsTableNotExist(err) {
    return nil, nil // no remotes yet — uninitialized repo
}

// ensure repo is initialized and reachable first
if err := ensureInitialized(ctx); err != nil { return err }
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
defer cancel()

func isQueryErr(err error) bool {
    return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ListRemotes: query:")
}

remotes, err := store.ListRemotes(ctx)
if err != nil {
    if dberrors.IsTableNotExist(err) { return nil, nil } // uninitialized repo
    if isTransient(err) { return retry(ctx, store.ListRemotes) }
    return nil, err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ListRemotes when QueryContext fails: dolt_remotes table missing (uninitialized repo), database connection refused/closed, permissions denied, or context cancelled before query completion.

Common situations: Running remote listing against a database that was never Dolt-initialized; Dolt SQL server down or restarted; network interruption to the SQL server; calling too early during startup before schema creation.

Understand the failure class

Background: "query failed", "%w: SQL error" — wrapped database query errors in Go libraries explained — this error's family across 3 libraries.

Related errors

• descendants: query: %w
• ErrQuery
• failed to begin transaction: %w
• failed to recompute is_blocked: %w
• failed to commit is_blocked repairs: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3f0bf4382335e5a1. Report an issue: GitHub.