What causes "journal dependency removals for source-repo delete: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Inspect the inner error returned by RecordDependencyRemovalsForIssuesInTx

journal dependency removals for source-repo delete: %w

Error message

journal dependency removals for source-repo delete: %w

What it means

Before removing issue rows, dependency edges are journaled via RecordDependencyRemovalsForIssuesInTx; failure is wrapped as "journal dependency removals for source-repo delete: %w". This preserves the edge data for sync before deletion.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/issueops/bulk_ops.go:210

		return 0, nil
	}

	affectedIssues, affectedWisps, aerr := AffectedByDeletionInTx(ctx, tx, issueIDs, nil)
	if aerr != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("affected by source-repo delete: %w", aerr)
	}

	// Deleted issues hold no leases: clear them while the id set is still
	// joinable (before the issues rows go away).
	if _, err := tx.ExecContext(ctx,
		`DELETE FROM leases WHERE issue_id IN (SELECT id FROM issues WHERE source_repo = ?)`, sourceRepo); err != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("delete leases: %w", err)
	}

	// Edges are journaled before the rows go, while their source snapshots can
	// still be read.
	if err := RecordDependencyRemovalsForIssuesInTx(ctx, tx, issueIDs); err != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("journal dependency removals for source-repo delete: %w", err)
	}

	result, err := tx.ExecContext(ctx, `DELETE FROM issues WHERE source_repo = ?`, sourceRepo)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("delete issues: %w", err)
	}

	rowsAffected, err := result.RowsAffected()
	if err != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("rows affected: %w", err)
	}

	// Journal each deleted issue in the same transaction. issueIDs is the exact
	// set removed by the DELETE above (both were scoped to source_repo), so
	// there are no phantom records here. The source-repo bulk delete plumbing
	// carries no actor, so the rows record none.
	for _, id := range issueIDs {
		if err := RecordDeleteInTx(ctx, tx, id, ""); err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Inspect the inner error returned by RecordDependencyRemovalsForIssuesInTx
Verify the journal/dependencies tables exist and are writable
Free disk space / raise quota if inserts fail from a full disk
Retry with a longer context for large edge sets

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// confirm the journal table is present and writable
_, err := db.Exec("SELECT 1 FROM deletions LIMIT 1") // or the relevant journal table

Type guard

var noTableErr interface{ Error() string }
_ = errors.As(err, &noTableErr) // "no such table" indicates schema drift

Try / catch

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "journal dependency removals") {
    // journal write failed: verify disk space/schema, retry transaction
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot journal before delete: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Keep disk quota headroom for journal writes
Run migrations before bulk deletes so journal tables exist
Never skip journaling; without it sync cannot reproduce the delete

When it happens

Trigger: RecordDependencyRemovalsForIssuesInTx errors while reading or inserting dependency-removal records: failing SELECT on dependencies, INSERT into the journal/compaction table fails, or context canceled mid-way.

Common situations: Journal table missing or full (disk quota); schema drift between journal writer and reader; timeout while journaling a repo with thousands of edges.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/58588e127a7201d6. Report an issue: GitHub.