nikivdev/code · error

git status failed with {}

Error message

git status failed with {}

What it means

The library runs `git status --porcelain --untracked-files=all` in the project root to enumerate changed paths; when git exits non-zero it wraps the exit status into this error. It almost always reflects a broken git environment rather than a library bug.

Source

Thrown at src/codex_session_docs.rs:1451

                    || entry.session_key.starts_with(session_hint))
        })
        .map(|(index, _)| index)
        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
    match matches.as_slice() {
        [index] => Ok(*index),
        [] => bail!("no session-doc queue entry matches `{session_hint}`"),
        _ => bail!("multiple session-doc queue entries match `{session_hint}`"),
    }
}

fn git_changed_paths(project_root: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
    let output = Command::new("git")
        .args(["status", "--porcelain", "--untracked-files=all"])
        .current_dir(project_root)
        .output()
        .context("failed to run git status")?;
    if !output.status.success() {
        bail!("git status failed with {}", output.status);
    }
    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
    let mut paths = Vec::new();
    for line in stdout.lines() {
        if line.len() < 4 {
            continue;
        }
        let raw_path = line[3..].trim();
        let path = raw_path
            .split_once(" -> ")
            .map(|(_, after)| after)
            .unwrap_or(raw_path);
        if !path.is_empty() {
            paths.push(path.to_string());
        }
    }
    Ok(dedupe_preserve_order(paths))
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

  1. Run `git status` manually in the project root to see the real git error
  2. Initialize the repo (`git init`) if the directory is not one, or point the tool at the repo root
  3. Fix git config issues (e.g. `git config --global --add safe.directory <path>`) and remove stale `index.lock`

Example fix

// before
let paths = git_changed_paths(root)?;
// after
ensure!(root.join(".git").exists(), "{} is not a git repo", root.display());
let paths = git_changed_paths(root)?;
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let probe = Command::new("git").args(["rev-parse","--is-inside-work-tree"]).current_dir(root).output()?;
anyhow::ensure!(probe.status.success(),
    "git unusable in {}: {}", root.display(), String::from_utf8_lossy(&probe.stderr));

Type guard

fn is_usable_git_repo(root: &Path) -> bool {
    Command::new("git").args(["rev-parse","--is-inside-work-tree"])
        .current_dir(root).output().map(|o| o.status.success()).unwrap_or(false)
}

Try / catch

match git_changed_paths(root) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("git status failed") => {
        eprintln!("{} — run `git status` manually in {} to see the cause", e, root.display());
        Err(e)
    }
    other => other,
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: `git status` returning a non-zero exit status inside the project root — e.g. the directory is not a git repository, `.git` is corrupted, or git cannot read the index/ownership config.

Common situations: Running the tool outside a repo; "dubious ownership" after copying repos across users/containers; permission problems on `.git/index.lock`; broken git installation.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e0eee2755a4ee623. Report an issue: GitHub.