What causes "open dependency file: %w" in gastownhall/beads?

Verify the path exists and is readable: ls -l , or cat to confirm access.

open dependency file: %w

Error message

open dependency file: %w

What it means

Wraps the OS error returned by os.Open when readBulkDepEdges cannot open the user-supplied bulk dependency file (any file other than '-'). It lets `bd dep add -f <file>` fail with context about which step failed while preserving the underlying errno message. It is thrown in cmd/bd/dep.go when the file path is wrong, unreadable, or a directory.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/dep.go:612

			"count":        len(resolved),
			"dependencies": out,
		})
	}

	fmt.Printf("%s Added %d dependencies\n", ui.RenderPass("✓"), len(resolved))
	return nil
}

func readBulkDepEdges(file string, defaultType string) ([]bulkDepEdge, error) {
	var r io.Reader
	var f *os.File
	if file == "-" {
		r = os.Stdin
	} else {
		var err error
		f, err = os.Open(file) // #nosec G304 -- user-supplied bulk dependency file
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("open dependency file: %w", err)
		}
		defer f.Close()
		r = f
	}

	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(r)
	scanner.Buffer(make([]byte, 0, 64*1024), 1024*1024)

	var edges []bulkDepEdge
	var errs []string
	lineNo := 0
	for scanner.Scan() {
		lineNo++
		line := strings.TrimSpace(scanner.Text())
		if line == "" {
			continue
		}
		var in bulkDepInput

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Verify the path exists and is readable: ls -l <file>, or cat <file> to confirm access.
If input should come from stdin, pass '-' as the file value (readBulkDepEdges maps '-' to os.Stdin).
Fix permissions (chmod/chown) or move the file into the directory where bd runs.
Check for a stale relative path and re-run with an absolute path.

Example fix

// before
bd dep add bd-1 --file ./deps.txt
// error: open dependency file: no such file or directory

// after
bd dep add bd-1 --file "$PWD/deps.txt"  # or verify file exists first
[ -r deps.txt ] && bd dep add bd-1 --file deps.txt

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if [ ! -r "$DEPS_FILE" ] || [ -d "$DEPS_FILE" ]; then echo "dependency file not readable: $DEPS_FILE" >&2; exit 1; fi

Try / catch

if err := addBulkDeps(file); err != nil {
	if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) || errors.Is(err, os.ErrPermission) {
		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "cannot open %s: %v\n", file, err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}
	return err
}

Prevention

Always resolve the -f argument to an absolute path in scripts.
Use '-' with a heredoc/pipe when generating dependency lists dynamically.
Check file readability in CI before invoking bd dep add.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `bd dep add --file <path>` (via addBulkDependencies or runDepAddBulkProxied) where os.Open fails: nonexistent path, no read permission, path is a directory, or a stale symlink.

Common situations: Typo in the -f path; running from a different working directory than assumed; file deleted after shell globbing; permission-restricted mount or CI sandbox that blocks reading the dependency list.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8cb23957d959cc15. Report an issue: GitHub.