What causes "inherit labels: list parent %s: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Inspect the wrapped cause (errors.Unwrap) to identify the repository-level failure.

inherit labels: list parent %s: %w

Error message

inherit labels: list parent %s: %w

What it means

This error wraps a failure from labelRepo.List when reading the parent issue's existing labels during inheritance (internal/storage/domain/label.go). The prefix includes the parent ID so the failing parent is identifiable. The original repository error is preserved with %w.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/domain/label.go:238

func (u *labelUseCaseImpl) InheritFromParent(ctx context.Context, childID, parentID, actor string, skipExisting []string) ([]string, error) {
	return u.inherit(ctx, childID, parentID, actor, skipExisting, false)
}

func (u *labelUseCaseImpl) InheritFromWispParent(ctx context.Context, childWispID, parentWispID, actor string, skipExisting []string) ([]string, error) {
	return u.inherit(ctx, childWispID, parentWispID, actor, skipExisting, true)
}

func (u *labelUseCaseImpl) inherit(ctx context.Context, childID, parentID, actor string, skipExisting []string, useWisp bool) ([]string, error) {
	if childID == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("inherit labels: childID must not be empty")
	}
	if parentID == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("inherit labels: parentID must not be empty")
	}
	parentLabels, err := u.labelRepo.List(ctx, parentID, LabelOpts{UseWispsTable: useWisp})
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("inherit labels: list parent %s: %w", parentID, err)
	}
	if len(parentLabels) == 0 {
		return nil, nil
	}
	skip := make(map[string]bool, len(skipExisting))
	for _, s := range skipExisting {
		skip[s] = true
	}
	var inherited []string
	for _, label := range parentLabels {
		if skip[label] {
			continue
		}
		if err := u.labelRepo.Insert(ctx, childID, label, actor, LabelOpts{UseWispsTable: useWisp}); err != nil {
			return inherited, fmt.Errorf("inherit labels: insert %s on %s: %w", label, childID, err)
		}
		inherited = append(inherited, label)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Inspect the wrapped cause (errors.Unwrap) to identify the repository-level failure.
Verify the parent issue/wisp actually exists in the database (bd show <parentID>).
Check database availability/locks and close competing bd processes.
Retry with a fresh context if ctx.Err() indicates cancellation or timeout.

Example fix

// before
_, err := uc.InheritFromParent(ctx, childID, parentID, actor, nil)
if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) }
// after
_, err := uc.InheritFromParent(ctx, childID, parentID, actor, nil)
if err != nil {
    log.Printf("inherit from %s failed: %v", parentID, errors.Unwrap(err))
    return err
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// verify parent exists first
labels, err := uc.GetLabels(ctx, parentID)
if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("parent %s unreadable: %w", parentID, err) }

Try / catch

_, err := uc.InheritFromParent(ctx, childID, parentID, actor, nil)
if err != nil {
    if ctx.Err() != nil { return ctx.Err() }
    log.Printf("parent %s label list failed: %v", parentID, errors.Unwrap(err))
    return err
}

Prevention

Confirm the parent issue exists before inheritance.
Keep only one bd writer process active to avoid DB locks.
Use fresh contexts per operation to avoid stale cancellations.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling InheritFromParent or InheritFromWispParent when labelRepo.List(parentID, LabelOpts{UseWispsTable: ...}) fails: database locked/unavailable, parent issue row missing in the labels table source, context canceled, or wisps-table routing to a nonexistent table.

Common situations: Reading from a partially-migrated Dolt database; concurrent bd processes holding the DB lock; querying a parent wisp that was deleted while inheritance was in flight.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67436af8d10fad0a. Report an issue: GitHub.