jackwener/OpenCLI · critical · BrowserConnectError

daemon-not-running

daemon-not-running

Error message

Failed to start opencli daemon

What it means

ensureBrowserBridgeReady waited for the daemon to become ready (waitForBridgeReady) but the final health state was not 'ready', so it throws BrowserConnectError with code daemon-not-running. This means the OpenCLI daemon started (or was started) but no Chrome/Chromium extension connected within the timeout.

Source

Thrown at src/browser/daemon-lifecycle.ts:158

  }

  if (!staleDaemonReplaced && health.state === 'profile-required') {
    throw browserConnectErrorFromHealth(health, contextId);
  }

  if (staleDaemonReplaced || health.state === 'stopped') {
    if (verbose && (process.env.OPENCLI_VERBOSE || process.stderr.isTTY)) {
      process.stderr.write('⏳ Starting daemon...\n');
    }
    daemonLifecycleHooks.spawnDaemonProcess();
  } else if (verbose && (process.env.OPENCLI_VERBOSE || process.stderr.isTTY)) {
    process.stderr.write('⏳ Waiting for Chrome/Chromium extension to connect...\n');
    process.stderr.write('   Make sure Chrome or Chromium is open and the OpenCLI extension is enabled.\n');
  }

  const finalHealth = await waitForBridgeReady(getDaemonHealth, { timeoutMs, contextId, preferredContextId });
  if (finalHealth.state === 'ready') return finalHealth;
  throw browserConnectErrorFromHealth(finalHealth, contextId);
}

function browserConnectErrorFromHealth(health: DaemonHealth, contextId?: string): BrowserConnectError {
  if (health.state === 'profile-required') {
    return new BrowserConnectError(
      'Multiple Browser Bridge profiles are connected',
      'Select one with --profile <name>, OPENCLI_PROFILE=<name>, or opencli profile use <name>.\n' +
      'Run opencli profile list to see connected profiles.',
      'profile-required',
    );
  }
  if (health.state === 'profile-disconnected') {
    const label = contextId ?? health.status.contextId ?? 'unknown';
    return new BrowserConnectError(
      `Browser profile "${label}" is not connected`,
      'Open the matching Chrome profile and make sure the OpenCLI extension is enabled, or choose another profile with opencli profile use <name>.',
      'profile-disconnected',
    );

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Open Chrome/Chromium and ensure the OpenCLI extension is installed and enabled.
2. Restart the browser (or reload the extension) so it reconnects to the daemon, then retry.
3. Increase the timeout if the browser/extension takes long to connect on slow machines.
4. Check the daemon is actually running (start it manually) and that no firewall blocks its local socket.

Example fix

// before
await runCommand('browser', 'screenshot', { path: 'x.png' }); // throws daemon-not-running
// after: ensure readiness with retry
await ensureBrowserBridgeReady({ verbose: true, timeoutMs: 30000 });
await runCommand('browser', 'screenshot', { path: 'x.png' });

const health = await bridge.health();
if (health.state !== 'ready') {
  throw new Error('Browser Bridge not ready: open Chrome and enable the OpenCLI extension');
}

function isBridgeReady(health) {
  return health.state === 'ready';
}

try {
  await runCommand('browser', action, args);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.code === 'daemon-not-running') {
    await waitForBridgeReady(getDaemonHealth, { timeoutMs: 30000, contextId });
    return runCommand('browser', action, args);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any Browser Bridge command when finalHealth.state !== 'ready' after waitForBridgeReady's timeoutMs — typically Chrome not running, extension disabled, or extension failing to reach the daemon socket.

Common situations: Chrome closed or crashed, OpenCLI extension disabled after a browser update, wrong daemon port/socket, CI environments without a browser, or extension not reloaded after installing the CLI update.

Related errors

• [opencli] daemon ping failed: HTTP ${res.status}
• profile-required
• Detached HEAD — checkout a branch first
• autohome ${contextHint} network error: ${err?.message || err
• coingecko derivatives request failed: ${err?.message ?? err}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/052c59f9447c92f2. Report an issue: GitHub.