gastownhall/beads · warning

delete branch %s: %w

Error message

delete branch %s: %w

What it means

DeleteBranch runs CALL DOLT_BRANCH('-D', ?) to force-delete a branch and wraps failures as 'delete branch <name>: %w'. Dolt errors when the branch does not exist or cannot be deleted (e.g. it is the current branch). The wrapped driver error preserves Dolt's specific message.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/versioncontrolops/branches.go:47

	var branch string
	if err := db.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT active_branch()").Scan(&branch); err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("get current branch: %w", err)
	}
	return branch, nil
}

// CreateBranch creates a new Dolt branch from the current HEAD.
func CreateBranch(ctx context.Context, db DBConn, name string) error {
	if _, err := db.ExecContext(ctx, "CALL DOLT_BRANCH(?)", name); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create branch %s: %w", name, err)
	}
	return nil
}

// DeleteBranch force-deletes a Dolt branch.
func DeleteBranch(ctx context.Context, db DBConn, name string) error {
	if _, err := db.ExecContext(ctx, "CALL DOLT_BRANCH('-D', ?)", name); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("delete branch %s: %w", name, err)
	}
	return nil
}

// CheckoutBranch switches the active session to the named branch.
func CheckoutBranch(ctx context.Context, db DBConn, name string) error {
	if _, err := db.ExecContext(ctx, "CALL DOLT_CHECKOUT(?)", name); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("checkout branch %s: %w", name, err)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Treat 'branch not found' from the wrapped error as success (idempotent delete) rather than a failure
2. Checkout another branch (e.g. main) before deleting the current branch
3. Verify the branch exists with a dolt_branches query before deleting

Example fix

// before
err := versioncontrolops.DeleteBranch(ctx, db, "compact-tmp")
// after
err := versioncontrolops.DeleteBranch(ctx, db, "compact-tmp")
if err != nil && !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") {
    return err
}

var count int
_ = db.QueryRowContext(ctx,
    "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dolt_branches WHERE name = ?", name).Scan(&count)
// count == 0 → already deleted, skip

err := versioncontrolops.DeleteBranch(ctx, db, name)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unknown branch") {
        return nil // idempotent delete
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling DeleteBranch on a branch name that doesn't exist; attempting to delete the currently checked-out branch; the delete call failing due to connection problems.

Common situations: Best-effort cleanup code deleting an already-deleted temp branch (e.g. compact-tmp deleted twice); trying to delete 'main' while checked out on it; typo in branch name.

Related errors

• get current branch: %w
• create branch %s: %w
• checkout branch %s: %w
• failed to open server connection: %w
• failed to begin transaction: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/58ef210e75d9ebf1. Report an issue: GitHub.