gastownhall/beads · error

failed to set sync.remote: %w

Error message

failed to set sync.remote: %w

What it means

Same autoConfigureForkContributor flow as the routing.contributor error: this one wraps a failure from store.SetConfig(ctx, "sync.remote", "upstream"). The fork-contributor setup sets sync.remote to "upstream" so sync targets the upstream repo; a store error here aborts the last config step of the setup.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/init_contributor.go:342

			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create .beads in planning repo: %w", err)
		}
		// Initialize the planning Dolt schema so commands like bd migrate-personal
		// can open the store immediately without hitting an uninitialized DB.
		// Non-fatal: no-CGO and server-mode builds skip this silently; the schema
		// initializes on first use once a Dolt server is running for that path.
		if planningStore, storeErr := newDoltStoreFromConfig(ctx, planningBeadsDir); storeErr == nil {
			_ = planningStore.Close()
		}
	}

	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: %w", err)
	}
	if err := store.SetConfig(ctx, "sync.remote", "upstream"); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to set sync.remote: %w", err)
	}

	_ = exec.Command("git", "config", "beads.role", "contributor").Run()

	if configPath, err := config.FindConfigYAMLPath(); err == nil {
		if addErr := config.AddRepo(configPath, planningPath); addErr != nil && !strings.Contains(addErr.Error(), "already exists") {
			// Non-fatal: hydration config failure doesn't block routing setup
		}
	}

	if !quiet {
		fmt.Printf("\n%s Fork detected — configuring contributor routing\n", ui.RenderAccent("▶"))
		fmt.Printf("  upstream: %s\n\n", upstreamURL)
		fmt.Printf("  %s Planning repo: %s\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"), planningPath)
		fmt.Printf("  %s Issues will route to planning repo (routing.mode=auto)\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))
		fmt.Printf("  %s Sync remote set to upstream\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))
		if createdPlanning {
			fmt.Printf("  %s Added .beads/ to planning repo\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"))

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Close other bd processes / release the database lock, then re-run `bd init --contributor`.
2. Fix the underlying storage issue reported after the colon (permissions, disk space).
3. Manually complete the setup: `bd config set sync.remote upstream` and verify `routing.mode`/`routing.contributor` are set.
4. Run `bd doctor` to check database health before retrying.

Example fix

// before (manual completion of partial init)
// after
bd config set sync.remote upstream
git config beads.role contributor

// Ensure no lock and the store responds before init
if err := store.Ping(ctx); err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("beads store unavailable: %w", err) }

if err := autoConfigureForkContributor(ctx, store, planningPath); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to set sync.remote") {
        // complete manually: bd config set sync.remote upstream
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: store.SetConfig(ctx, "sync.remote", "upstream") errors during `bd init --contributor` — DB locked, unwritable storage, transaction failure. Note this fires only after routing.mode and routing.contributor writes already succeeded, so the repo is left with partial fork config.

Common situations: Concurrent bd sessions holding the Dolt database, read-only mounts, or a corrupted config store encountered at the third of three sequential config writes.

Related errors

• no active beads workspace
• failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %w
• failed to persist sync.remote to config.yaml: %v
• failed to load %s: %w; refusing to reinitialize automaticall
• failed to set beads.role config: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b4e5c08af85b5812. Report an issue: GitHub.