gastownhall/beads · error

failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %v

Error message

failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %v

What it means

When an initial remote is configured, `bd init` persists the effective sync.remote (and related sync URL state) into .beads/config.yaml via persistInitSyncRemote. If writing the YAML config fails, initialization aborts with this error.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/init.go:1745

			// The write itself happens once, below this block, through
			// seedInitWorkspaceIdentity; this is where its id is decided.
			bootstrapProjectID = cfg.ProjectID

			// Create config.yaml template (prefix is stored in DB, not config.yaml)
			if err := createConfigYaml(beadsDir, false, ""); err != nil {
				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Warning: failed to create config.yaml: %v\n", err)
				// Non-fatal - continue anyway
			}

			// Persist sync.remote to config.yaml so fresh clones can
			// bootstrap from it (the Dolt database is gitignored).
			// Must run AFTER createConfigYaml which creates the file.
			// Persist the effective remote so future bootstrap and hooks know
			// Dolt, not JSONL, is the cross-machine sync path. Plain git
			// origins are valid here: the first push creates refs/dolt/data.
			if err := persistInitSyncRemote(beadsDir, initRemote, syncURL, syncFromRemote, syncURLFromConfig, syncURLFromGitOrigin); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %v", err)
			}

			// Enable shared server mode if requested via flag OR env var (GH#2377).
			// Persist to config.yaml so the project continues working without the env var.
			if sharedServer || doltserver.IsSharedServerMode() {
				if err := config.SetYamlConfig("dolt.shared-server", "true"); err != nil {
					fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Warning: failed to enable shared server mode: %v\n", err)
				} else if !quiet {
					fmt.Printf("  %s Shared server mode enabled\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))
				}
			}

			if debugMode {
				if err := config.SetYamlConfig("dolt.debug", "true"); err != nil {
					fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Warning: failed to persist dolt.debug: %v\n", err)
				} else if !quiet {
					serverDir := doltserver.ResolveServerDir(beadsDir)
					fmt.Printf("  %s Debug mode enabled\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Check .beads/config.yaml exists and is writable: ls -la .beads/config.yaml
2. Validate/fix the YAML by hand (or delete it and re-run bd init to regenerate)
3. Fix ownership/permissions: chown $USER .beads/config.yaml; chmod 644 .beads/config.yaml
4. Free disk space if the write failed with ENOSPC

Example fix

// before (read-only file)
-r--r--r-- .beads/config.yaml
// after
$ chmod 644 .beads/config.yaml
$ bd init ...

cfg=.beads/config.yaml
if [ -f "$cfg" ]; then
  [ -w "$cfg" ] || chmod 644 "$cfg"
  python3 -c "import yaml,sys; yaml.safe_load(open('$cfg'))" || echo "invalid YAML"
fi

bd init ... || { rc=$?; ls -la .beads/config.yaml; exit $rc; }

When it happens

Trigger: persistInitSyncRemote(...) returns an error (config.yaml missing/unreadable, YAML marshal or write failure) during `bd init` with a --remote/derived remote present; runs after createConfigYaml.

Common situations: config.yaml is read-only or owned by another user, disk full, .beads/config.yaml was hand-edited into invalid YAML, or an editor/tool made the file immutable.

Related errors

• persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %w
• failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %w
• failed to load %s: %w; refusing to reinitialize automaticall
• failed to set beads.role config: %w
• failed to configure hydration: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e7cad912017ff9f5. Report an issue: GitHub.