louislam/dockge · error · Error

Failed to delete, please check the terminal output for more

Error message

Failed to delete, please check the terminal output for more information.

What it means

Stack.delete() runs 'docker compose down --remove-orphans'; a non-zero exit code throws this Error and the stack folder is NOT removed (the fsAsync.rm happens only after success). Actual cause is visible in the compose terminal.

Source

Thrown at backend/stack.ts:220

            fs.lchownSync(dir, uid, gid);
            fs.chownSync(path.join(dir, this._composeFileName), uid, gid);
        }
    }

    async deploy(socket : DockgeSocket) : Promise<number> {
        const terminalName = getComposeTerminalName(socket.endpoint, this.name);
        let exitCode = await Terminal.exec(this.server, socket, terminalName, "docker", this.getComposeOptions("up", "-d", "--remove-orphans"), this.path);
        if (exitCode !== 0) {
            throw new Error("Failed to deploy, please check the terminal output for more information.");
        }
        return exitCode;
    }

    async delete(socket: DockgeSocket) : Promise<number> {
        const terminalName = getComposeTerminalName(socket.endpoint, this.name);
        let exitCode = await Terminal.exec(this.server, socket, terminalName, "docker", this.getComposeOptions("down", "--remove-orphans"), this.path);
        if (exitCode !== 0) {
            throw new Error("Failed to delete, please check the terminal output for more information.");
        }

        // Remove the stack folder
        await fsAsync.rm(this.path, {
            recursive: true,
            force: true
        });

        return exitCode;
    }

    async updateStatus() {
        let statusList = await Stack.getStatusList();
        let status = statusList.get(this.name);

        if (status) {
            this._status = status;
        } else {

View on GitHub (pinned to f809ae192b)

Solutions

Read the compose terminal output in Dockge for the docker error
Ensure compose.yaml still matches the running project before deleting (don't empty it first)
Run 'docker compose down --remove-orphans' manually in the stack dir to diagnose
If containers are stuck, 'docker rm -f' them / restart Docker, then delete again
If the folder remains after a partial failure, remove it manually after confirming containers are gone

Example fix

// before
await stack.delete(socket);
// after
try {
    await stack.delete(socket);
} catch (e) {
    log.error("delete", `Compose down failed; stack folder for '${stack.name}' was kept. Fix compose.yaml or remove containers manually.`);
    throw e;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

import { existsSync, readFileSync } from "fs";
function canDelete(dir: string): boolean {
    return existsSync(dir) && existsSync(dir + "/compose.yaml")
        && readFileSync(dir + "/compose.yaml", "utf8").trim().length > 0;
}
if (!canDelete(stack.path)) {
    throw new Error("compose.yaml missing/empty — down would fail; restore it before deleting");
}
await stack.delete(socket);

Type guard

function isDeletable(stack: Stack): boolean {
    return typeof stack.name === "string" && stack.name.length > 0 && !!stack.composeYAML;
}

Try / catch

try {
    await stack.delete(socket);
} catch (e) {
    log.error("delete", "Compose down failed — stack folder retained; fix compose.yaml or remove containers manually, then retry");
    throw e;
}

Prevention

Never empty or rename compose.yaml right before deleting a stack
Confirm docker daemon is healthy before teardown operations
Clean up orphaned networks/containers periodically
If down keeps failing, remove containers with docker rm -f first

When it happens

Trigger: docker compose down exits non-zero: compose.yaml already deleted/edited so project name or services can't be resolved, Docker daemon error, orphan-network removal failure, containers in a stuck state.

Common situations: User edited compose.yaml (renamed project/services) then deleted — down can't find original resources; daemon restarting/unreachable; leftover networks with 'down' failing on external network marked external.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of louislam/dockge@f809ae192b (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/93d399364cde4e88. Report an issue: GitHub.