gastownhall/beads · error

no storage available

Error message

no storage available

What it means

withStorage is a helper that obtains a store (e.g. an open read-only store or the active one) and runs a callback with it; every fallback path failed to produce a store, so it returns the plain 'no storage available' error. Commands like list/where rely on it to read issues.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/list.go:34

// storageExecutor handles operations that need a store connection
type storageExecutor func(store storage.DoltStorage) error

// withStorage executes an operation with either the direct store or a read-only store
func withStorage(ctx context.Context, store storage.DoltStorage, dbPath string, fn storageExecutor) error {
	if store != nil {
		return fn(store)
	} else if dbPath != "" {
		// Open read-only connection using repo metadata when available so
		// helper paths keep the correct Dolt database and server endpoint.
		roStore, err := openReadOnlyStoreForDBPath(ctx, dbPath)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		defer func() { _ = roStore.Close() }() // Best effort cleanup
		return fn(roStore)
	}
	return fmt.Errorf("no storage available")
}

// issueSnapshot builds a comparable string from issue IDs, statuses, and
// update times so we can detect when the result set has changed.
func issueSnapshot(issues []*types.Issue) string {
	var b strings.Builder
	for _, issue := range issues {
		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "%s:%s:%d;", issue.ID, issue.Status, issue.UpdatedAt.UnixNano())
	}
	return b.String()
}

// skipLabelsIssueView wraps IssueWithCounts so the JSON encoder always emits
// `labels: []` regardless of the omitempty tag on Issue.Labels. AD-02 contract:
// with --skip-labels, every issue's labels field is present and empty.
type skipLabelsIssueView struct {
	*types.IssueWithCounts
	Labels []string `json:"labels"`

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Run `bd init` in the project or cd into the repository containing the .beads database
2. Ensure the bd daemon is running (`bd daemon` status; restart if needed) and BD_DAEMON points at it
3. Check file permissions on the .beads directory and database files

Example fix

// before
$ bd list --json
Error: no storage available
// after
$ bd init
$ bd list --json

if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(".beads")); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("no bd storage here; run 'bd init' first")
}

out, err := runList(ctx)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no storage available") {
	// fallback: ensure daemon up, or run 'bd init' then retry
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a command that needs storage (getHierarchicalChildren, findAllDescendants, the `where` command path) when no embedded store can be opened, no daemon store is connected, and no ro-store could be created.

Common situations: Running bd outside an initialized repo (no .beads database); daemon not running; BD_DAEMON/whoami misconfiguration; database file missing or permissions deny opening it.

Related errors

• database not available: %w
• ErrExec
• database %q not found on Dolt server at %s:%d
• database not available: %w
• not using Dolt backend (configured backend %q)

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0816ca229fc4082b. Report an issue: GitHub.