gastownhall/beads · error

--prefix %q conflicts with issue_prefix %q provisioned in da

Error message

--prefix %q conflicts with issue_prefix %q provisioned in database %q; omit --prefix to adopt the provisioned one

What it means

When the caller passes an explicit --prefix, adoptTeamServerIdentity refuses to silently ignore a disagreement: if the shared database's provisioned issue_prefix differs from the local --prefix, init aborts with this conflict error. A merely derived (non-explicit) local prefix would be adopted silently; only explicit flags conflict.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/init_proxied_server.go:430

//
// ABSENT means "unprovisioned, tell them to run bts init" and UNREADABLE means
// "the connection failed, say so"; keeping those apart is the InitVerifier
// role's promise. The two markers arrive as ONE snapshot, so the prefix and the
// project id cannot come from either side of a concurrent write.
func adoptTeamServerIdentity(ctx context.Context, verifier issueops.InitVerifier, dbName, localPrefix string, prefixIsExplicit bool, localProjectID string) (prefix, projectID string, err error) {
	identity, readErr := verifier.VerifyIdentity(ctx, issueops.VerifyIdentityRequest{})
	if _, err := resolveInitIssuePrefix(true, identity.Prefix, dbName, localPrefix, readErr); err != nil {
		if readErr == nil {
			return "", "", fmt.Errorf(
				"database %q has no project identity (config.issue_prefix) — provision it with 'bts init' (or heal an older bts database with 'bts migrate')",
				dbName)
		}
		return "", "", err
	}
	// An explicit --prefix that disagrees must not be silently ignored; a
	// merely derived prefix adopts silently.
	if prefixIsExplicit && identity.Prefix != localPrefix {
		return "", "", fmt.Errorf(
			"--prefix %q conflicts with issue_prefix %q provisioned in database %q; omit --prefix to adopt the provisioned one",
			localPrefix, identity.Prefix, dbName)
	}

	adoptedID, _, err := resolveInitProjectID(true, localProjectID, identity.ProjectID, dbName, readErr)
	if err != nil {
		if readErr == nil {
			return "", "", fmt.Errorf(
				"database %q has no project identity (metadata._project_id) — provision it with 'bts init' (or heal an older bts database with 'bts migrate')",
				dbName)
		}
		return "", "", err
	}
	return identity.Prefix, adoptedID, nil
}

type proxiedMetadataInputs struct {
	dbName     string

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Re-run bd init WITHOUT --prefix to adopt the provisioned prefix (recommended by the error)
2. If you truly need a different prefix, provision a separate database with 'bts init' using that prefix — don't fight the shared one
3. Update local scripts/docs to the provisioned prefix

Example fix

// before
bd init --prefix OLD
// error: --prefix "OLD" conflicts with issue_prefix "NEW"
// after
bd init   # omit --prefix; adopts the provisioned prefix

// read the provisioned prefix before passing --prefix
ident, _ := verifier.VerifyIdentity(ctx, issueops.VerifyIdentityRequest{})
if prefixFlag != "" && ident.Prefix != "" && prefixFlag != ident.Prefix {
    return fmt.Errorf("drop --prefix %q; database is provisioned with %q", prefixFlag, ident.Prefix)
}

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "conflicts with issue_prefix") {
    // re-run bd init without --prefix to adopt the provisioned prefix
}

When it happens

Trigger: bd init --prefix XYZ against a team-server database provisioned with a different issue_prefix (e.g. ABC).

Common situations: Copy-pasting an init command from another project's docs; the team re-provisioned the shared database with a new prefix while local scripts still pass the old one; two teams sharing one database by mistake.

Related errors

• database %q has no project identity (config.issue_prefix) —
• database %q has no project identity (metadata._project_id) —
• --team-server requires --proxied-server
• record repo_id: %w
• record clone_id: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4bcb3a42b2a3cc57. Report an issue: GitHub.