multica-ai/multica · error

remove stale memories path %s: %w

Error message

remove stale memories path %s: %w

What it means

Returned by mountHermesMemories when os.RemoveAll fails while deleting the overlay's task-local memories/ path after it was migrated (or found as a non-store symlink). The removal is the last step of repointing HERMES_HOME/memories at the agent-scoped persistent store, so failure means the mount cannot proceed and the task overlay build aborts.

Source

Thrown at server/internal/daemon/execenv/hermes_memory.go:168

	if fi, err := os.Lstat(dst); err == nil {
		if fi.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
			if target, rlErr := os.Readlink(dst); rlErr == nil && filepath.Clean(target) == filepath.Clean(storeDir) {
				if err := os.MkdirAll(storeDir, 0o700); err != nil {
					return fmt.Errorf("create hermes memory store %s: %w", storeDir, err)
				}
				touchHermesMemoryStore(storeDir, logger)
				return nil
			}
		} else if fi.IsDir() {
			// Runs before the store dir is created, so migration can publish a
			// fully-copied tree with one atomic rename. Fails closed: the source
			// dir below is only removed once every entry is safely in the store.
			if err := migrateHermesTaskMemories(dst, storeDir, logger); err != nil {
				return err
			}
		}
		if err := os.RemoveAll(dst); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("remove stale memories path %s: %w", dst, err)
		}
	} else if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
		return fmt.Errorf("stat memories path %s: %w", dst, err)
	}

	if err := os.MkdirAll(storeDir, 0o700); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create hermes memory store %s: %w", storeDir, err)
	}
	if err := createDirLink(storeDir, dst); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("link memories to store %s: %w", storeDir, err)
	}
	// Stamp the store as just-used: mounting it does not touch its mtime, so
	// without this the GC's idle check could reclaim a long-idle agent's memory
	// right as a task picks it back up.
	touchHermesMemoryStore(storeDir, logger)
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2c0912b6ec)

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped error: EACCES/EPERM means permissions (chown or delete the stale dir manually), EBUSY/sharing-violation means a process holds it open (stop other tasks/daemons, retry).
2. Manually move the stale <task-home>/memories aside and re-run; the store migration already copied its contents, so nothing is lost.
3. Ensure only one daemon instance per Multica profile dir runs concurrently.

Example fix

// before: stale dir blocks mount, task overlay fails
% ls ~/.multica/…/hermes/memories  # owned by another user
// after: remove the stale path as the daemon user, then re-run
% sudo rm -rf ~/.multica/…/hermes/memories
% multica daemon restart

// Before mounting, confirm the daemon can remove the stale path:
if fi, err := os.Lstat(dst); err == nil && fi.IsDir() {
    if err := os.RemoveAll(dst); err != nil {
        log.Printf("pre-check failed, fix before task start: %v", err)
    }
}

// In the caller of mountHermesMemories:
if err := mountHermesMemories(home, store, logger); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "remove stale memories path") && isTransientFS(err) {
        // single retry after brief backoff; EBUSY/AV locks often clear
        time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond)
        err = mountHermesMemories(home, store, logger)
    }
    if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("overlay mount: %w", err) }
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.RemoveAll(dst) on <overlay-hermes-home>/memories fails: a file inside is held open with mandatory locking semantics, the directory or one of its children has read-only/0700-not-owner permissions, an antivirus or indexer on Windows holds a handle, or another concurrent task is writing into the same task-local memories dir mid-delete.

Common situations: Upgrading a daemon on a machine where a legacy real memories/ directory exists; running the daemon under a service account that lacks ownership of files written by an earlier user-run daemon; two tasks sharing one task dir racing on the same memories path.

Related errors

• read hermes memory store %s: %w
• read task-local hermes memories %s: %w
• create hermes memory store parent %s: %w
• mint PAT: response missing token
• daemon profile is not resolved yet; token sync skipped

AI-assisted analysis of multica-ai/multica@2c0912b6ec (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d7cdddda0701cda5. Report an issue: GitHub.