gastownhall/beads · error

failed to get repos config: %w

Error message

failed to get repos config: %w

What it means

AddRepo starts by reading the current repos configuration from config.yaml via GetReposFromYAML. If that read/parse fails, the error is wrapped as "failed to get repos config", so the underlying cause (read error or YAML parse error) is chained with %w.

Source

Thrown at internal/config/repos.go:203

			additionalNode.Content = append(additionalNode.Content,
				&yaml.Node{Kind: yaml.ScalarNode, Value: path, Style: yaml.DoubleQuotedStyle},
			)
		}
		node.Content = append(node.Content,
			&yaml.Node{Kind: yaml.ScalarNode, Value: "additional"},
			additionalNode,
		)
	}

	return node
}

// AddRepo adds a repository to the repos.additional list in config.yaml
// If primary is not set, it defaults to "."
func AddRepo(configPath, repoPath string) error {
	repos, err := GetReposFromYAML(configPath)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to get repos config: %w", err)
	}

	// Set primary to "." if not already set (standard multi-repo convention)
	if repos.Primary == "" {
		repos.Primary = "."
	}

	// Check if repo already exists
	for _, existing := range repos.Additional {
		if existing == repoPath {
			return fmt.Errorf("repository already configured: %s", repoPath)
		}
	}

	// Add the new repo
	repos.Additional = append(repos.Additional, repoPath)

	return SetReposInYAML(configPath, repos)

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Unwrap the chained error (errors.Unwrap / %v of err) to see the root cause
2. Validate config.yaml syntax with yamllint and fix the offending line
3. Restore a known-good config.yaml (backup or git checkout)
4. Verify you are passing the correct configPath to AddRepo

Example fix

// before
AddRepo("config.yaml", "/repo") // hides root cause
// after
if err := AddRepo("config.yaml", "/repo"); err != nil {
    log.Printf("cause: %v", errors.Unwrap(err))
}

data, _ := os.ReadFile(configPath)
var probe map[string]any
if err := yaml.Unmarshal(data, &probe); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("pre-check: config.yaml unparseable: %w", err)
}

if err := AddRepo(cfgPath, repoPath); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to get repos config") {
        log.Printf("root cause: %v", errors.Unwrap(err))
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: GetReposFromYAML(configPath) returns an error — invalid YAML in config.yaml, unreadable file, or a malformed repos section — and AddRepo propagates it.

Common situations: A hand-edited config.yaml with a syntax error; a partially written config from a previous crashed run; wrong configPath passed to AddRepo.

Related errors

• persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %w
• failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %w
• failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %v
• failed to configure hydration: %w
• error reading config file: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0b3415c6e8864898. Report an issue: GitHub.