google-gemini/gemini-cli · error

Failed to load session data

Error message

Failed to load session data

What it means

Thrown by selectSession when loadConversationRecord(sessionPath) returns a falsy value — the session file exists in the listing but its contents could not be parsed into a valid ConversationRecord. This is a data-integrity failure: the on-disk session is empty or unparseable.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/utils/sessionUtils.ts:548

      }
    }

    return this.selectSession(selectedSession);
  }

  /**
   * Loads session data for a selected session.
   */
  private async selectSession(
    sessionInfo: SessionInfo,
  ): Promise<SessionSelectionResult> {
    const chatsDir = path.join(this.storage.getProjectTempDir(), 'chats');
    const sessionPath = path.join(chatsDir, sessionInfo.fileName);

    try {
      const sessionData = await loadConversationRecord(sessionPath);
      if (!sessionData) {
        throw new Error('Failed to load session data');
      }
      const normalizedSessionData = {
        ...sessionData,
        startTime: sessionData.startTime || sessionInfo.startTime,
        lastUpdated: sessionData.lastUpdated || sessionInfo.lastUpdated,
      };

      const displayInfo = `Session ${sessionInfo.index}: ${sessionInfo.firstUserMessage} (${sessionInfo.messageCount} messages, ${formatRelativeTime(sessionInfo.lastUpdated)})`;

      return {
        sessionPath,
        sessionData: normalizedSessionData,
        displayInfo,
      };
    } catch (error) {
      throw new Error(
        `Failed to load session ${sessionInfo.id}: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'}`,
      );

View on GitHub (pinned to 5024443c72)

Solutions

1. Inspect the session file at sessionPath (under <projectTempDir>/chats/<fileName>) — if empty/corrupt, delete or restore from backup.
2. If many sessions are affected, check for a recent schema/format change and migrate or clear old chats.
3. Resume a different, known-good session instead.

const stat = fs.statSync(sessionPath);
if (stat.size === 0) throw new Error(`Session file ${sessionPath} is empty/corrupt; remove it before resuming.`);

let data;
try { data = await loadConversationRecord(sessionPath); }
catch (e) { /* handle corrupt file: remove/restore, then surface friendly error */ }
if (!data) { /* treat as corrupt */ }

When it happens

Trigger: loadConversationRecord(sessionPath) resolves to null/undefined. The file at sessionPath is empty, truncated, or contains JSON that does not match the expected schema well enough to yield a record.

Common situations: Session file was partially written (process killed mid-write). File manually emptied or corrupted. Schema migration left an old file unreadable. Disk full during a prior write truncated the file.

Related errors

• Failed to find session "${trimmedResumeArg}": ${error instan
• Failed to load session ${sessionInfo.id}: ${error instanceof
• Workspace path ${resolvedPath} does not exist
• Workspace path ${resolvedPath} is not a directory
• tar.c command failed to create ${tmpArchiveFile}

AI-assisted analysis of google-gemini/gemini-cli@5024443c72 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/827a346417e5af7f. Report an issue: GitHub.