nikivdev/code · error

No branches available to search

Error message

No branches available to search

What it means

`run_find` (src/branches.rs:57) collects local (or remote, if requested) git branches and bails if the resulting list is empty. There is nothing to search, so the find operation aborts before ranking.

Source

Thrown at src/branches.rs:57

        return Ok(());
    }

    let limit = opts.limit.max(1);
    for entry in branches.iter().take(limit) {
        print_branch(entry);
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn run_find(opts: BranchFindOpts) -> Result<()> {
    let query = opts.query.trim().to_string();
    if query.is_empty() {
        bail!("Query cannot be empty");
    }

    let branches = collect_branches(opts.remote)?;
    if branches.is_empty() {
        bail!("No branches available to search");
    }

    let ranked = rank_branches(&query, &branches);
    if ranked.is_empty() {
        bail!("No branches matched query '{}'.", query);
    }

    let limit = opts.limit.max(1);
    for (_, entry) in ranked.iter().take(limit) {
        print_branch(entry);
    }

    if opts.switch {
        let best = ranked
            .first()
            .map(|(_, entry)| (*entry).clone())
            .context("No match available to switch")?;
        println!("\nSwitching to {}...", best.name);

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

1. Run the command from inside a git repository that has branches
2. If using --remote, run `git fetch --all` first so remote refs exist
3. Verify the remote is configured (`git remote -v`)
4. Drop the --remote flag to search local branches

// ensure we're in a repo with refs before running find
let out = std::process::Command::new("git").args(["rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree"]).output()?;
if !out.status.success() {
    anyhow::bail!("not inside a git repository");
}

fn branches_available(b: &[Branch]) -> bool { !b.is_empty() }

match run_find(opts) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("No branches available") => {
        eprintln!("run inside a repo with branches, or `git fetch --all` first");
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: `collect_branches(opts.remote)` returns an empty vector — running in a directory with no git repo/branches, or `--remote` set while no remote branches exist (no fetch, no remote configured, or wrong repo).

Common situations: Invoked outside a git repository; fresh clone with zero local branches and no fetched remotes; `--remote` flag used in a repo whose remote hasn't been fetched yet.

Related errors

• No branches available for AI matching
• Commit queue is empty.
• No PR found for current branch and commit queue is empty.
• jj git export retry loop should always return
• Lin.app is not running

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d3d14ca4c6860ae3. Report an issue: GitHub.