gastownhall/beads · error

invalid toRef: %w

Error message

invalid toRef: %w

What it means

Identical guard to the fromRef case but for the toRef argument of DiffInTx: ValidateRef rejected the destination ref before it can be interpolated into dolt_diff(). The library fails fast to keep the dolt_diff query injection-safe. It is a caller-input error.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/issueops/diff.go:21

import (
	"context"
	"database/sql"
	"fmt"

	"github.com/steveyegge/beads/internal/storage"
	"github.com/steveyegge/beads/internal/types"
)

// DiffInTx returns changes between two commits or branches by querying
// Dolt's dolt_diff() table function.
//
// nolint:gosec // G201: refs are validated by ValidateRef() - dolt_diff requires literal refs
func DiffInTx(ctx context.Context, tx *sql.Tx, fromRef, toRef string) ([]*storage.DiffEntry, error) {
	if err := ValidateRef(fromRef); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid fromRef: %w", err)
	}
	if err := ValidateRef(toRef); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid toRef: %w", err)
	}

	query := fmt.Sprintf(`
		SELECT
			COALESCE(from_id, '') as from_id,
			COALESCE(to_id, '') as to_id,
			diff_type,
			from_title, to_title,
			from_description, to_description,
			from_status, to_status,
			from_priority, to_priority
		FROM dolt_diff('%s', '%s', 'issues')
	`, fromRef, toRef)

	rows, err := tx.QueryContext(ctx, query)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get diff: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped ValidateRef error for the specific rule violated
2. Pass plain single refs (branch, tag, or commit hash) as toRef — not ranges or expressions
3. Pre-validate with ValidateRef at the caller boundary
4. Strip or reject whitespace and SQL metacharacters from user input

Example fix

// before
DiffInTx(ctx, tx, "main", "dev..HEAD")
// after
DiffInTx(ctx, tx, "main", "HEAD") // one plain ref per argument; ranges are not refs

func validRef(ref string) bool {
    if ref == "" || strings.ContainsAny(ref, "'\"; --") || strings.Contains(ref, "..") {
        return false
    }
    return issueops.ValidateRef(ref) == nil
}
// reject ranges like "main..dev"; pass two refs instead

if err := DiffInTx(ctx, tx, from, to); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "invalid toRef") {
        return fmt.Errorf("usage: to must be a single plain ref, got %q", to)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling DiffInTx with an invalid toRef: empty string, embedded quotes/semicolons, illegal characters, or a malformed ref form rejected by ValidateRef.

Common situations: User-supplied target branch containing unexpected characters; passing a range string like "main..dev" instead of two separate refs; automated pipelines propagating unsanitized ref names.

Related errors

• invalid fromRef: %w
• ErrFieldTooLong
• title is required
• invalid identifier: %q
• close: id must not be empty

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/908507b53b7dd868. Report an issue: GitHub.