gitbutlerapp/gitbutler · error

existing session ' ' is missing updated-at

Error message

existing session '{session_key}' is missing updated-at

What it means

session_list_entry reads the `:updated-at` GitMeta key for a session that an index lookup said exists. Because the index claimed the session exists, its updated-at stamp is expected to be present; a missing value means the stored session data is incomplete or was partially written/corrupted, so the function bails instead of silently dropping the session.

Solutions

1. Remove the stale index entry and re-record the session so updated-at is written atomically with the index entry
2. Inspect the GitMeta keys under the session prefix (e.g. via the tooling/debug output) to confirm which keys are missing
3. Upgrade or rerun the writer to completion; check the writer code path that inserts both the index hit and updated-at
4. If this recurs, migrate/rebuild the GitMeta store for the repo

Example fix

// before (caller assumed complete data)
let sessions = find_related_sessions_limited(&repo_path, target, Some(10))?;
// after (tolerate partially-written sessions)
let sessions = find_related_sessions_limited(&repo_path, target, Some(10))
    .unwrap_or_else(|_| Vec::new()); // or log and skip per-entry failures

let prefix = format!("{}:{session_key}", status_prefix(status));
let present = gitmeta_key_exists(&repo_path, &format!("{prefix}:updated-at"));
if !present { /* repair or skip this session */ }

match session_list_entry(handle, status, key) {
    Ok(entry) => Some(entry),
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("missing updated-at") => {
        // prune stale index entry, skip session
        None
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: find_related_sessions_limited_by_statuses -> session_list_entry when the GitMeta set index lists session_key but handle.get_value('<prefix>:updated-at') returns None — i.e. the session record was never fully written or the updated-at key was deleted.

Common situations: A crash mid-write left an index entry without the session payload; manual pruning of GitMeta keys removed updated-at but not the index entry; older versions of the tool wrote different keys (schema/upgrade drift); corrupted GitMeta storage.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• existing GitMeta key
• existing GitMeta key
• existing GitMeta key
• existing GitMeta key
• existing GitMeta key

AI-assisted analysis of gitbutlerapp/gitbutler@58e5313667 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bd4aabf66ee093aa. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/but-agentlog/src/gitmeta/read.rs:61

            RelatedTarget::Branch(key)
            | RelatedTarget::Review(key)
            | RelatedTarget::Change(key) => key,
        }
    }
}

fn session_list_entry(
    handle: &SessionTargetHandle<'_>,
    status: PublicationStatus,
    session_key: String,
) -> Result<SessionListEntry> {
    let session_prefix = session_storage_prefix(status, &session_key);
    let updated_at_key = format!("{session_prefix}:updated-at");
    let updated_at = match handle
        .get_value(&updated_at_key)
        .with_context(|| format!("failed to read GitMeta key '{updated_at_key}'"))?
    {
        None => bail!("existing session '{session_key}' is missing updated-at"),
        Some(MetaValue::String(updated_at)) => updated_at,
        Some(_) => bail!("existing GitMeta key '{updated_at_key}' is not a string"),
    };
    let sort_updated_at = DateTime::parse_from_rfc3339(&updated_at)
        .with_context(|| format!("existing GitMeta key '{updated_at_key}' has invalid timestamp"))?
        .with_timezone(&Utc);
    Ok(SessionListEntry {
        session_key,
        status,
        updated_at,
        sort_updated_at,
    })
}

pub(crate) fn find_related_sessions_limited(
    repo_path: &Path,
    target: RelatedTarget<'_>,
    max_sessions: Option<usize>,

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