gastownhall/beads · error

gh run view failed: %s

Error message

gh run view failed: %s

What it means

Returned when `gh run view <id> --json ...` exits non-zero for a reason other than missing CLI or missing run (cmd/bd/gate.go:1080). The message carries gh's raw stderr so the developer can see the actual gh failure.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/gate.go:1080

func checkGHRunStatusInRepoWithRunner(runID, repo string, runGH ghCommandRunner) (resolved, escalated bool, reason string, err error) {
	// Run: gh run view <id> --json status,conclusion,name
	args := []string{"run", "view", runID, "--json", "status,conclusion,name"}
	if repo != "" {
		args = append(args, "--repo", repo)
	}
	stdout, stderr, runErr := runGH(args...)
	if runErr != nil {
		// Check if gh CLI is not found
		if strings.Contains(string(stderr), "command not found") ||
			strings.Contains(runErr.Error(), "executable file not found") {
			return false, false, "", fmt.Errorf("gh CLI not installed")
		}
		// Check if run not found
		if strings.Contains(string(stderr), "not found") {
			return false, true, "workflow run not found", nil
		}
		return false, false, "", fmt.Errorf("gh run view failed: %s", string(stderr))
	}

	var status ghRunStatus
	if parseErr := json.Unmarshal(stdout, &status); parseErr != nil {
		return false, false, "", fmt.Errorf("failed to parse gh output: %w", parseErr)
	}

	// Evaluate status
	switch status.Status {
	case "completed":
		switch status.Conclusion {
		case "success":
			return true, false, fmt.Sprintf("workflow '%s' succeeded", status.Name), nil
		case "failure":
			return false, true, fmt.Sprintf("workflow '%s' failed", status.Name), nil
		case "cancelled", "canceled":
			return false, true, fmt.Sprintf("workflow '%s' was canceled", status.Name), nil
		case "skipped":

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Inspect the stderr text embedded in this error for the exact gh message
2. Run the same command manually: `gh run view <id> --repo <owner/repo>`
3. Re-authenticate: `gh auth status` then `gh auth login`
4. Check repo permissions for the token and confirm the repo slug is correct

gh auth status && gh repo view <owner/repo> --json name

if _, _, _, err := checkGHRunStatus(runID); err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "gh run view failed:") {
    // inspect embedded stderr; retry with backoff for transient 5xx/rate-limit
}

When it happens

Trigger: checkGHRunStatusInRepoWithRunner runs `gh run view` and it fails with stderr that contains neither 'command not found' nor 'not found' — e.g. auth errors, rate limits, invalid repo, permission denial.

Common situations: Token lacks access to the target repo (cross-repo gate), GitHub API 403/rate limit, gh not authenticated, invalid --repo slug, network/proxy failure.

Related errors

• failed to query workflow runs: %w
• no runs found for workflow '%s'
• gh pr view failed: %s
• gh CLI not installed
• failed to parse gh output: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/de128032a90f36c3. Report an issue: GitHub.