gastownhall/beads · error

previewDelete: load issues: %w

Error message

previewDelete: load issues: %w

What it means

This error wraps a failure from issueRepo.GetByIDs on the regular issues table inside previewDelete, which builds a DeletePreview for PreviewDelete/PreviewDeleteWisp. Preview is read-only, so this failure aborts the preview without any database mutation.

Source

Thrown at internal/storage/domain/issue_delete.go:285

		out = append(out, id)
	}
	sort.Strings(out)
	return out
}

func (u *issueUseCaseImpl) previewDelete(ctx context.Context, ids []string) (DeletePreview, error) {
	preview := DeletePreview{
		Issues:          map[string]*types.Issue{},
		ConnectedIssues: map[string]*types.Issue{},
		DepRecords:      map[string][]*types.Dependency{},
	}
	if len(ids) == 0 {
		return preview, nil
	}

	fromIssues, err := u.issueRepo.GetByIDs(ctx, ids, IssueTableOpts{})
	if err != nil {
		return preview, fmt.Errorf("previewDelete: load issues: %w", err)
	}
	for _, iss := range fromIssues {
		preview.Issues[iss.ID] = iss
	}
	fromWisps, err := u.issueRepo.GetByIDs(ctx, ids, IssueTableOpts{UseWispsTable: true})
	if err != nil && !dberrors.IsTableNotExist(err) {
		return preview, fmt.Errorf("previewDelete: load wisps: %w", err)
	}
	for _, iss := range fromWisps {
		preview.Issues[iss.ID] = iss
	}

	for _, id := range ids {
		if _, ok := preview.Issues[id]; !ok {
			preview.NotFound = append(preview.NotFound, id)
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Fix the underlying driver error reported by the wrapped cause.
2. Retry the preview; it performs no writes.
3. Split very large id lists into smaller batches.
4. Run database migrations if the schema may be out of date.

// Pre-validate inputs and connectivity before previewing:
if len(ids) == 0 {
    return nil // preview of empty set is a no-op
}
if err := store.PingContext(ctx); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("db unreachable: %w", err)
}

var dbErr *dberrors.DBError
if errors.As(err, &dbErr) {
    // classify driver failure before surfacing to the user
}

preview, err := uc.PreviewDelete(ctx, ids)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "previewDelete: load issues") {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot preview delete (db read failed): %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling PreviewDelete or PreviewDeleteWisp with non-empty ids when the bulk GetByIDs query on the issues table fails: DB unreachable, query timeout, or row scan error.

Common situations: Connection loss while previewing a delete; oversized id lists; schema mismatch between the running code and an older database.

Related errors

• loading subgraph for %s: %w
• failed to delete child %s: %w
• remove dep %s -> %s: %w
• delete: recompute is_blocked: %w
• delete: list dependents: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f1b0cf0678a18100. Report an issue: GitHub.