refusing to bootstrap dirty repo {} during clone bootstrap

Error message

refusing to bootstrap dirty repo {} during clone bootstrap

What it means

During clone bootstrap, if the cloned repo's working tree is dirty and options.fail_on_dirty is set, bootstrap refuses to proceed rather than operating on uncommitted changes. This protects against stashing/committing/resetting user changes implicitly.

Source

Thrown at src/repos.rs:816

    let mut status = repo_home_branch_status_with_options(
        repo_root,
        &options.home_branch,
        options.ensure_private_mirror,
    )?;

    if !status.eligible {
        let result = HomeBranchBootstrapResult {
            repo_root: repo_root.display().to_string(),
            changed: false,
            switched_to_home_branch: false,
            status,
            steps: vec!["skipped: repo is not a supported GitHub checkout".to_string()],
        };
        return Ok(result);
    }

    if options.fail_on_dirty && status.working_tree_dirty {
        bail!(
            "refusing to bootstrap dirty repo {} during clone bootstrap",
            repo_root.display()
        );
    }

    let public_remote = status
        .public_remote
        .clone()
        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("missing public remote for {}", repo_root.display()))?;
    let public_default_branch = status.public_default_branch.clone().ok_or_else(|| {
        anyhow::anyhow!("missing public default branch for {}", repo_root.display())
    })?;
    let home_branch = status.home_branch.clone();

    if status.configured_home_branch.as_deref() != Some(home_branch.as_str()) {
        steps.push(format!("set git config flow.homeBranch={home_branch}"));
        if !options.dry_run {
            git_run_in(

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

Commit or stash the local changes, then re-run bootstrap.
Clean untracked junk files (`git clean` after review) so the tree is clean.
Re-clone into a fresh directory if changes are disposable.

Example fix

// before: dirty tree, fail_on_dirty=true
bootstrap(repo)
// after
$ git -C repo stash   # or commit
bootstrap(repo)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

fn dirty(repo: &Path) -> bool {
    let out = std::process::Command::new("git")
        .args(["status", "--porcelain"])
        .current_dir(repo)
        .output()
        .expect("git status");
    !out.stdout.is_empty()
}
// run bootstrap only if !dirty(repo_root) with fail_on_dirty set

Try / catch

match bootstrap_clone_repo(&repo_root, &options) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("refusing to bootstrap dirty repo") => {
        git(&repo_root, &["stash"])?;
        bootstrap_clone_repo(&repo_root, &options)?;
    }
    r => r?,
}

Prevention

Commit or stash local changes before running bootstrap.
Add common junk files (.DS_Store, editor artifacts) to .gitignore.
Run bootstrap immediately after clone, before making edits.
Check `git status --porcelain` in CI before bootstrap steps.

When it happens

Trigger: bootstrap_clone_repo invoked on a repo whose git status shows a dirty working tree, with fail_on_dirty enabled.

Common situations: Post-clone hooks or editors created/modified files before bootstrap ran; the user resumed work in a partially-bootstrapped repo; OS junk files (.DS_Store) make the tree dirty.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cacde4d9fd144a01. Report an issue: GitHub.