gastownhall/beads · warning

Failed to resolve dependency target %s: %v

Error message

Failed to resolve dependency target %s: %v

What it means

Same as the source-side failure but for the dependency's target (DependsOn) issue: resolveIssue failed with an error while translating the To external ID to a local issue. The dependency is skipped and counted as failed; processing continues with remaining dependencies.

Source

Thrown at internal/tracker/engine.go:1337

	}

	resolveIssue, err := e.dependencyIssueResolver(ctx, nil)
	if err != nil {
		e.warn("Failed to build dependency resolver: %v", err)
		return len(deps)
	}

	errCount := 0
	for _, dep := range deps {
		fromIssue, err := resolveIssue(ctx, dep.FromExternalID)
		if err != nil {
			e.warn("Failed to resolve dependency source %s: %v", dep.FromExternalID, err)
			errCount++
			continue
		}
		toIssue, err := resolveIssue(ctx, dep.ToExternalID)
		if err != nil {
			e.warn("Failed to resolve dependency target %s: %v", dep.ToExternalID, err)
			errCount++
			continue
		}

		if fromIssue == nil || toIssue == nil {
			continue // Not found (no error) — expected if issue wasn't imported
		}

		d := &types.Dependency{
			IssueID:     fromIssue.ID,
			DependsOnID: toIssue.ID,
			Type:        types.DependencyType(dep.Type),
		}
		if err := e.Store.AddDependency(ctx, d, e.Actor); err != nil {
			e.warn("Failed to create dependency %s -> %s: %v", fromIssue.ID, toIssue.ID, err)
			errCount++
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped error to identify the storage-level cause.
2. Ensure pull filters don't exclude the dependency endpoints (pull all types/states that dependencies reference).
3. Re-run `bd pull` after fixing storage issues.
4. Verify the target issue's external_ref in the local store is intact (`bd show <id>`).
5. Check tracker-side that the dependency target still exists.

Example fix

// before: target excluded by state filter
bd pull --status=open
// after: include states that dependency targets may have
bd pull

// confirm dependency targets are covered by your pull scope
for _, dep := range deps {
    if !inPullScope(dep.ToExternalID) {
        log.Printf("dependency target %s outside pull scope", dep.ToExternalID)
    }
}

// retry unresolved targets on a second pass
stats, err := engine.Sync(ctx, opts)
if stats != nil && stats.FailedDeps > 0 && isStorageErr(err) {
    time.Sleep(backoff)
    engine.Sync(ctx, opts)
}

When it happens

Trigger: resolveIssue(ctx, dep.ToExternalID) returns a non-nil error during pull dependency import — storage query error, DB lock, or transient driver failure for the target lookup.

Common situations: Target issue blocked from import by type/state filters while dependencies still reference it; DB contention; corrupted external_ref on the target issue's local record.

Related errors

• Failed to resolve dependency source %s: %v
• Failed to build dependency resolver: %v
• Failed to create dependency %s -> %s: %v
• no store is open for this workspace
• database not available: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/71a9ad2bec12f167. Report an issue: GitHub.