livekit/livekit · error

already running

Error message

already running

What it means

LivekitServer.Start is called on a server whose atomic running flag is already true. Start is not idempotent: it guards with s.running.Load() and returns this error instead of registering the node or spawning loops a second time.

Source

Thrown at pkg/service/server.go:216

	return
}

func (s *LivekitServer) Node() *livekit.Node {
	return s.currentNode.Clone()
}

func (s *LivekitServer) HTTPPort() int {
	return int(s.config.Port)
}

func (s *LivekitServer) IsRunning() bool {
	return s.running.Load()
}

func (s *LivekitServer) Start() error {
	if s.running.Load() {
		return errors.New("already running")
	}
	s.doneChan = make(chan struct{})

	if err := s.router.RegisterNode(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer func() {
		if err := s.router.UnregisterNode(); err != nil {
			logger.Errorw("could not unregister node", err)
		}
	}()

	if err := s.router.Start(); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if err := s.ioService.Start(); err != nil {
		return err

View on GitHub (pinned to ee45c3f0b1)

Solutions

1. Check server.IsRunning() before calling Start
2. Create a new LivekitServer instance instead of re-Starting the existing one
3. Ensure only one goroutine calls Start (single supervisor path)

Example fix

// before
server.Start()
// after
if !server.IsRunning() {
    if err := server.Start(); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
}

if server.IsRunning() {
    return nil // already started
}
err := server.Start()

func canStart(s *LivekitServer) bool { return !s.IsRunning() }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Start() twice on the same *LivekitServer instance without waiting for it to shut down (doneChan closed / Stop called). Seen in tests (setupMultiNodeTestWithConfig) or when a supervisor restarts the start routine without recreating the server.

Common situations: Calling Start from both a main goroutine and an init helper; retrying Start after a transient failure elsewhere while the server actually came up; test scaffolding reusing a server object across cases.

Related errors

• room has already closed
• participant session is already closed
• internal error
• receiver closed

AI-assisted analysis of livekit/livekit@ee45c3f0b1 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cec0eb2819299d25. Report an issue: GitHub.