--waits-for-gate requires --waits-for (no spawner ID specifi

Error message

--waits-for-gate requires --waits-for (no spawner ID specified)

What it means

buildWaitsFor constructs the WaitsForSpec tying a new issue to a spawner parent. --waits-for-gate only configures HOW children are waited on (all-children vs any-children); it is meaningless without a spawner. When the caller explicitly passed --waits-for-gate but no --waits-for spawner ID, the CLI rejects it instead of silently ignoring the flag.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/create_deps.go:203

		return fmt.Errorf("invalid dependency type %q (must be non-empty, max %d chars); valid types: %s",
			t, types.MaxDependencyTypeLen, createDepsAcceptedTypeList())
	}
	if !t.IsWellKnown() {
		return fmt.Errorf("unknown dependency type %q; valid types: %s",
			t, createDepsAcceptedTypeList())
	}
	return nil
}

// buildWaitsFor validates and constructs a WaitsForSpec from the --waits-for
// and --waits-for-gate flag values. gateExplicit must be true when the caller
// explicitly passed --waits-for-gate (not relying on its default); in that case
// a missing spawnerID is rejected rather than silently ignored.
func buildWaitsFor(spawnerID, gate string, gateExplicit bool) (*domain.WaitsForSpec, error) {
	spawnerID = strings.TrimSpace(spawnerID)
	if spawnerID == "" {
		if gateExplicit {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("--waits-for-gate requires --waits-for (no spawner ID specified)")
		}
		return nil, nil
	}
	if gate == "" {
		gate = types.WaitsForAllChildren
	}
	if !types.IsValidWaitsForGate(gate) {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid --waits-for-gate value %q (valid: all-children, any-children)", gate)
	}
	return &domain.WaitsForSpec{SpawnerID: spawnerID, Gate: gate}, nil
}

func discoveredFromParent(deps []string) string {
	for _, raw := range deps {
		raw = strings.TrimSpace(raw)
		if raw == "" || !strings.Contains(raw, ":") {
			continue
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

Add the spawner: pass `--waits-for <parent-or-spawner-id>` alongside --waits-for-gate
Drop --waits-for-gate if you don't intend a waits-for relationship at all
In wrappers, only emit --waits-for-gate when the spawner value is non-empty

Example fix

// before
bd create "Child" --waits-for-gate any-children   # missing spawner
// after
bd create "Child" --waits-for bd-parent --waits-for-gate any-children

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if gate != "" && spawner == "" {
    return errors.New("--waits-for-gate given without --waits-for")
}

Prevention

Always pair --waits-for-gate with --waits-for in wrapper scripts
Emit the gate flag conditionally only when the spawner value is non-empty
Remember the gate alone never creates a waits-for relationship

When it happens

Trigger: `bd create "Task" --waits-for-gate any-children` without `--waits-for <spawner>`; the gateExplicit path in buildWaitsFor (called from runCreateProxiedSingle) sees an empty trimmed spawnerID and returns this error.

Common situations: Users copying the --waits-for-gate flag from an example but omitting the required --waits-for; wrappers that pass through an empty spawner variable while always appending the gate flag.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0b707de46c2f5a21. Report an issue: GitHub.