gastownhall/beads · error

failed to fingerprint target git marker: %w

Error message

failed to fingerprint target git marker: %w

What it means

bd fingerprints the worktree's `.git` marker file (same walk/hash routine as the gitdir) so removal can verify the target did not change between plan and execution. This error wraps any failure reading or hashing that file.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/worktree_cmd.go:1032

	}
	if gitDirInfo.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 || !gitDirInfo.IsDir() {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("target git directory is not a real directory: %s", gitDir)
	}
	gitMarkerPath := filepath.Join(worktree.path, ".git")
	gitMarkerInfo, err := os.Lstat(gitMarkerPath)
	if err != nil {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to pin target git marker identity: %w", err)
	}
	if gitMarkerInfo.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 || !gitMarkerInfo.Mode().IsRegular() {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("target git marker is not a regular file: %s", gitMarkerPath)
	}
	gitDirFingerprint, err := fingerprintWorktreeFilesystem(gitDir)
	if err != nil {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to fingerprint target git directory: %w", err)
	}
	gitMarkerFingerprint, err := fingerprintWorktreeFilesystem(gitMarkerPath)
	if err != nil {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to fingerprint target git marker: %w", err)
	}
	statusFingerprint, err := fingerprintWorktreeStatusPaths(worktree.path, string(statusOutput))
	if err != nil {
		return pinnedWorktreeTarget{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to fingerprint target changes: %w", err)
	}

	return pinnedWorktreeTarget{
		path:                 filepath.Clean(worktree.path),
		pathInfo:             pathInfo,
		gitDir:               gitDir,
		gitDirInfo:           gitDirInfo,
		gitMarkerInfo:        gitMarkerInfo,
		gitDirFingerprint:    gitDirFingerprint,
		gitMarkerFingerprint: gitMarkerFingerprint,
		commonDir:            filepath.Clean(strings.TrimSpace(string(commonDirOutput))),
		headOID:              headOID,
		branch:               worktree.branch,
		detached:             worktree.detached,

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Check the file is readable: `cat <worktree>/.git`; fix permissions if needed
2. Re-run `git worktree repair` and retry the removal
3. Retry the command if another git process was running concurrently

Example fix

// before: marker unreadable (mode 000)
chmod u+r <worktree>/.git
// after
bd worktree remove mywt

if _, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(worktreePath, ".git")); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("marker unreadable before removal: %w", err)
}

if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrPermission) || os.IsNotExist(err) {
        // re-check git worktree list / repair, then retry
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: `bd worktree remove <name>` or observeRevalidation when opening or reading `<worktree>/.git` fails: permission denied, deleted mid-scan, or I/O error.

Common situations: Read-only worktree mounts; the marker deleted by another process (e.g. `git worktree prune`) while bd read it; FUSE/network filesystem hiccups.

Related errors

• failed to fingerprint target git directory: %w
• failed to fingerprint target changes: %w
• git push (delete %s) failed: %s: %w
• failed to check git index lock %s: %w
• failed to read .gitignore: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0fbe59735879d0ff. Report an issue: GitHub.