What causes "%w (--prefer-local, --prefer-ado, --prefer-newer)" in gastownhall/beads?

Keep exactly one (or none — prefer-newer is the default) of the three flags.

%w (--prefer-local, --prefer-ado, --prefer-newer)

Error message

%w (--prefer-local, --prefer-ado, --prefer-newer)

What it means

Wraps the error from getADOConflictStrategy when the --prefer-local, --prefer-ado, and/or --prefer-newer conflict-resolution flags of `bd ado sync` are mutually exclusive and more than one was supplied. The %w carries the underlying 'cannot use multiple conflict resolution flags' message and the suffix lists the offending flags.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/ado.go:513

	}()

	cfg := getADOConfig()
	if err := validateADOConfig(cfg); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if !adoSyncDryRun {
		CheckReadonly("ado sync")
	}

	if adoSyncPullOnly && adoSyncPushOnly {
		return fmt.Errorf("cannot use both --pull-only and --push-only")
	}

	// Validate conflict flags
	conflictStrategy, err := getADOConflictStrategy(adoPreferLocal, adoPreferADO, adoPreferNewer)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("%w (--prefer-local, --prefer-ado, --prefer-newer)", err)
	}

	if err := ensureStoreActive(); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("database not available: %w", err)
	}

	out := cmd.OutOrStdout()
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Create and initialize the ADO tracker
	at := &ado.Tracker{}
	cliProjects, _ := cmd.Flags().GetStringSlice("project")
	if len(cliProjects) > 0 {
		at.SetProjects(tracker.DeduplicateStrings(cliProjects))
	}
	if err := at.Init(ctx, store); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("initializing Azure DevOps tracker: %w", err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Keep exactly one (or none — prefer-newer is the default) of the three flags.
Audit wrapper scripts/aliases for a hard-coded prefer flag colliding with a user-supplied one.
If you want 'newest wins', drop all three flags and rely on the default.

Example fix

// before
bd ado sync --prefer-local --prefer-newer

// after
bd ado sync --prefer-local

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

n := 0
for _, b := range []bool{preferLocal, preferADO, preferNewer} {
	if b { n++ }
}
if n > 1 {
	return errors.New("set at most one of --prefer-local/--prefer-ado/--prefer-newer")
}

Try / catch

if err := bd("ado", "sync", flags...); err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "conflict resolution flags") {
	log.Printf("drop extra prefer flags: %v", err)
}

Prevention

Rely on the default (prefer-newer) unless a specific strategy is required.
In wrappers, let user flags override defaults instead of appending both.
Document allowed combinations in the team runbook.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `bd ado sync` with two or more of --prefer-local, --prefer-ado, --prefer-newer set, e.g. `--prefer-local --prefer-newer`.

Common situations: Scripts merging per-repo defaults with user overrides (each sets a different prefer flag); aliases or Makefile targets appending their own flags; experimenting with conflict strategies without removing the previous flag.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fb7f73109133f82c. Report an issue: GitHub.