gastownhall/beads · error

failed to get issue for claim: %w

Error message

failed to get issue for claim: %w

What it means

ClaimIssueInTx reads the pre-image of the issue inside the transaction (via GetIssueInTx) before applying the claim CAS; failure is wrapped as "failed to get issue for claim: %w". The pre-image is required both for event recording and for assignee-claimability checks, so a claim cannot proceed without it.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/issueops/claim.go:49

// success (supports agent retry workflows).
// Routes to the correct table (issues/wisps) automatically.
// The caller is responsible for Dolt versioning (DOLT_ADD/COMMIT) if needed.
//
//nolint:gosec // G201: table names come from WispTableRouting (hardcoded constants)
func ClaimIssueInTx(ctx context.Context, tx DBTX, id string, actor string) (*ClaimResult, error) {
	// The CAS below writes assignee = actor. actor is user-settable (--actor /
	// BEADS_ACTOR), so bound it against the VARCHAR(255) assignee column up front
	// and return a typed ErrFieldTooLong rather than a raw backend error.
	if err := types.CheckFieldLen("actor", actor); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	isWisp := IsActiveWispInTx(ctx, tx, id)
	issueTable, _, eventTable, _ := WispTableRouting(isWisp)

	// Read old issue inside the transaction for event recording.
	oldIssue, err := GetIssueInTx(ctx, tx, id)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get issue for claim: %w", err)
	}

	now := time.Now().UTC()

	// Rewrite row_lock with the claim (see lease.go): a concurrent reclaim or
	// close on the same row is forced to conflict rather than silently
	// cell-merge. The lease itself is granted separately below, in the
	// ephemeral leases table — claims commit (status/assignee are
	// history-worthy) but lease grants and heartbeats do not (bd-lrgn1).
	rowLockClause, rowLockArgs := RowLockClause()

	// An issue is claimable from "open" plus any configured custom status whose
	// category is "active" (e.g. a draft->ready->in_progress lifecycle where
	// "ready" should be claimable). WIP/done/frozen customs are excluded so the
	// anti-steal protection from GH-3570 is preserved.
	claimableStatuses, err := ClaimableSourceStatusesInTx(ctx, tx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve claimable statuses: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Verify the issue exists first: bd show <id>; if gone, the claim target is stale.
2. Check the wrapped error: 'no rows' means wrong or deleted ID; connection errors mean retry the transaction.
3. Re-sync (bd sync) if the ID comes from another machine's export and may have been compacted or deleted.
4. Ensure you pass the full ID (prefix + number) exactly as stored.

Example fix

// before
iss, err := store.ClaimIssue(ctx, id, actor)
if err != nil { return err }
// after
iss, err := store.ClaimIssue(ctx, id, actor)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no rows") {
        return fmt.Errorf("issue %s not found; run bd sync", id)
    }
    return err
}

iss, err := store.GetIssue(ctx, id)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot claim %s: issue not found; run bd sync", id)
}

func issueExists(iss *types.Issue, err error) bool {
    return err == nil && iss != nil && iss.ID != ""
}

iss, err := store.ClaimIssue(ctx, id, actor)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no rows") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not found") {
        return fmt.Errorf("issue %s missing locally; run bd sync", id)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ClaimIssueInTx / ExecuteClaim / ExecuteUpdate when: the issue ID does not exist (ErrNoRows from GetIssueInTx), the row routing (wisp vs issue table) mismatched so the lookup hit the wrong table, or the SELECT failed from connection/context errors.

Common situations: Claiming an issue that was already deleted in another session; stale ID from a jsonl export; claiming a wisp ID through the non-wisp path after a compaction moved it; typos in the issue ID.

Related errors

• db: Claim %s: read old issue: %w
• db: Claim %s: resolve claim pools: %w
• db: Claim %s: resolve claimable statuses: %w
• db: Claim %s: %w
• db: Claim %s: read current state: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/784318a0a896dab1. Report an issue: GitHub.