What causes "failed to read issue_id_mode config: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Inspect the wrapped cause; if the config table is missing, run the beads schema migration to create it.

failed to read issue_id_mode config: %w

Error message

failed to read issue_id_mode config: %w

What it means

isCounterModeTx reads the `issue_id_mode` key from the config table to decide whether to use counter-based IDs. This error wraps a failure reading that config row other than 'row not found' (ErrNoRows is treated as non-counter mode). It means the config table is unreadable, missing, or the query failed for connection/transaction reasons.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/dolt/issues.go:907

			}
		}
	}

	// Read back the value that was atomically set by the DB engine.
	var nextID int
	err = tx.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT last_id FROM issue_counter WHERE prefix = ?", prefix).Scan(&nextID)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to read issue counter after increment for prefix %q: %w", prefix, err)
	}
	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%d", prefix, nextID), nil
}

// isCounterModeTx checks whether issue_id_mode=counter is configured.
func isCounterModeTx(ctx context.Context, tx *sql.Tx) (bool, error) {
	var idMode string
	err := tx.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT value FROM config WHERE `key` = ?", "issue_id_mode").Scan(&idMode)
	if err != nil && err != sql.ErrNoRows {
		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to read issue_id_mode config: %w", err)
	}
	return idMode == "counter", nil
}

// generateHashID creates a hash-based ID for a top-level issue.
// Uses base36 encoding (0-9, a-z) for better information density than hex.
func generateHashID(prefix, title, description, creator string, timestamp time.Time, length, nonce int) string {
	return idgen.GenerateHashID(prefix, title, description, creator, timestamp, length, nonce)
}

// Thin wrappers around exported issueops functions, kept for internal callers.
var (
	isAllowedUpdateField = issueops.IsAllowedUpdateField
)

// Aliases for shared nullable helpers from issueops.
var (
	nullString    = issueops.NullString

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Inspect the wrapped cause; if the config table is missing, run the beads schema migration to create it.
Re-run after confirming the Dolt backend is reachable and the context deadline is sufficient.
Create the config row explicitly (INSERT INTO config (key, value) VALUES ('issue_id_mode','counter')) to force counter mode once the table exists.
Run bd doctor to diagnose database corruption if errors persist.

Example fix

// before
err := tx.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT value FROM config WHERE `key` = ?", "issue_id_mode").Scan(&idMode)
if err != nil && err != sql.ErrNoRows {
    return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to read issue_id_mode config: %w", err)
}
// after (fail with actionable hint)
err := tx.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT value FROM config WHERE `key` = ?", "issue_id_mode").Scan(&idMode)
if err != nil && err != sql.ErrNoRows {
    if errors.Is(err, sql.ErrNoRows) { /* unreachable, kept for clarity */ }
    return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to read issue_id_mode config (is the config table migrated?): %w", err)
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

var val string
err := db.QueryRow("SELECT value FROM config WHERE `key` = 'issue_id_mode'").Scan(&val)
if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, sql.ErrNoRows) { /* default mode, fine */ } else {
        return fmt.Errorf("config table unreadable; run schema migration: %w", err)
    }
}

Type guard

func isConfigReadErr(err error) bool {
    return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "issue_id_mode config") && !errors.Is(err, sql.ErrNoRows)
}

Try / catch

id, err := store.CreateIssue(ctx, issue)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "read issue_id_mode config") {
    return fmt.Errorf("config table problem; run bd doctor / schema migration: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Run schema migrations whenever beads is upgraded
Set issue_id_mode explicitly after initial setup to verify the config table works
Run bd doctor after database restores or imports
Ensure contexts have adequate deadlines when opening large repositories

When it happens

Trigger: Any issue-ID generation when the `SELECT value FROM config WHERE key = 'issue_id_mode'` fails: config table absent from an old schema, corrupted database, cancelled context, or transaction/connection error.

Common situations: Very old beads databases that predate the config table; a corrupt .beads database; a context timeout hitting during repository open; Dolt server unavailable mid-transaction.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7f836a5d0b5d34b4. Report an issue: GitHub.