gastownhall/beads · error

failed to import from JSONL

Error message

failed to import from JSONL: %v

What it means

After the --from-jsonl file is found, `bd init` imports it via importFromLocalJSONL. If that import fails (parse errors, schema problems, storage write errors), bd closes the store and wraps the underlying error with this message.

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped %v error to find the offending line/reason
2. Validate the JSONL: each line must be a complete issue JSON object (jq -c . < file)
3. Repair or truncate the file at the bad line, or re-export it from the source repo
4. Re-run bd init --from-jsonl after fixing the file

Example fix

// before (truncated last line)
{"id":"x-1",...}
{"id":"x-2",   <- truncated
// after
$ tail -1 .beads/issues.jsonl  # remove bad line
$ bd init --from-jsonl

# pre-validate every line parses as JSON
n=0; while IFS= read -r line; do
  n=$((n+1)); printf '%s' "$line" | jq -e . >/dev/null || echo "bad JSON at line $n"
done < .beads/issues.jsonl

bd init --from-jsonl 2>import.log || {
  grep -F 'failed to import from JSONL' import.log
  # fix the offending line, then retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: importFromLocalJSONL(ctx, store, localJSONLPath) returns a non-nil error during `bd init --from-jsonl`.

Common situations: Malformed JSONL (truncated file, invalid JSON on a line), issues missing required fields, duplicate/invalid dependency references, or a storage-level failure while writing the issues into the fresh Dolt database.

Related errors

• --from-jsonl specified but
• failed to parse issue from JSONL
• failed to parse JSONL line
• failed to read JSONL file
• failed to scan JSONL

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/92d5de484910e3ab. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/bd/init.go:1823

		if shouldWriteInitStateToDB(doltCfg.Gateway) {
			if err := store.SetMetadata(ctx, "last_import_time", time.Now().Format(time.RFC3339)); err != nil {
				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Warning: failed to initialize last_import_time: %v\n", err)
				// Non-fatal - continue anyway
			}
		}

		// Import from local JSONL if requested (GH#2023).
		// This must run after the store is created and prefix is set.
		if fromJSONL {
			localJSONLPath := configuredImportJSONLPath(beadsDir)
			if _, statErr := os.Stat(localJSONLPath); os.IsNotExist(statErr) {
				_ = store.Close()
				return fmt.Errorf("--from-jsonl specified but %s does not exist", localJSONLPath)
			}
			issueCount, importErr := importFromLocalJSONL(ctx, store, localJSONLPath)
			if importErr != nil {
				_ = store.Close()
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to import from JSONL: %v", importErr)
			}
			if !quiet {
				fmt.Printf("  Imported %d issues from %s\n", issueCount, localJSONLPath)
			}
		}

		// Prompt for contributor mode if:
		// - In a git repo (needed to set beads.role config)
		// - Interactive terminal (stdin is TTY) and not --non-interactive
		// - No explicit --contributor or --team flag provided
		// - No explicit --role flag provided
		if isGitRepo() && !contributor && !team && roleFlag == "" && !nonInteractive && shouldPromptForRole() {
			promptedContributor, err := promptContributorMode()
			if err != nil {
				if isCanceled(err) {
					fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Setup canceled.")
					_ = store.Close()
					return errCanceled()

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)