What causes "failed to set routing contributor path: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Inspect the wrapped cause and fix the underlying store error

failed to set routing contributor path

Error message

failed to set routing contributor path: %w

What it means

Wraps an error from store.SetConfig when writing the 'routing.contributor' key (the planning repo path) during the contributor wizard. Same mechanism as the routing.mode failure: the beads config store failed to persist the value, aborting setup. The wrapped error names the underlying storage problem.

Solutions

Inspect the wrapped cause and fix the underlying store error
Run bd doctor or bd init to verify/repair the .beads Dolt store
Ensure the Dolt server is running if the build requires server mode
Check permissions on the .beads directory

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// Pre-check that the config store is openable before configuring routing
if err := store.SetConfig(ctx, "routing.mode", "off"); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("config store not writable, fix before contributor setup: %w", err)
}

Try / catch

if err := runContributorWizard(ctx, store, ...); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to set routing contributor path") {
		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "storage failure while writing config; check .beads store and Dolt server")
	}
	return err
}

Prevention

Keep the .beads directory free of locks (no parallel bd runs)
Verify store health with bd doctor before reconfiguring
Maintain free disk space and correct ownership of .beads

When it happens

Trigger: store.SetConfig(ctx, "routing.contributor", planningPath) returns an error inside runContributorWizard — same storage failures as the routing.mode write: locked/corrupt/missing Dolt store, server unreachable.

Common situations: Same as routing.mode failure: broken .beads store, concurrent bd process holding a lock, no Dolt server for server-mode builds, permission or disk issues.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/941eb22b22639310. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/bd/init_contributor.go:213

		cmd = exec.Command("git", "commit", "-m", "Initial commit: beads planning repository")
		cmd.Dir = planningPath
		_ = cmd.Run()

		fmt.Printf("%s Planning repository created\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))
	} else {
		fmt.Printf("%s Using existing planning repository\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))
	}

	// Step 4: Configure contributor routing
	fmt.Printf("\n%s Configuring contributor auto-routing...\n", ui.RenderAccent("▶"))

	// Set routing config (canonical namespace per internal/config/config.go)
	if err := store.SetConfig(ctx, "routing.mode", "auto"); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to set routing mode: %w", err)
	}
	if err := store.SetConfig(ctx, "routing.contributor", planningPath); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to set routing contributor path: %w", err)
	}

	fmt.Printf("%s Auto-routing enabled\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))

	// Step 4b: Enable multi-repo hydration so routed issues are visible (bd-fix-routing)
	fmt.Printf("\n%s Configuring multi-repo hydration...\n", ui.RenderAccent("▶"))

	// Find config.yaml path
	configPath, err := config.FindConfigYAMLPath()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to find config.yaml: %w", err)
	}

	// Add planning repo to repos.additional for hydration
	if err := config.AddRepo(configPath, planningPath); err != nil {
		// Check if already added (non-fatal)
		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "already exists") {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to configure hydration: %w", err)

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