oraios/serena · error · ToolCallError

No active project. Ask the user to provide the project path…

Error message

No active project. Ask the user to provide the project path or to select a project from this list of known projects: {self.agent.serena_config.project_names}

What it means

Tools that require project context (anything not marked ToolMarkerDoesNotRequireActiveProject) fail in task() when the agent has no active project loaded. The error tells the caller to ask the user for a project path or choose from serena_config.project_names.

Solutions

1. Activate a project first (agent.select_project('/path/to/project') or the activate_project tool)
2. Ask the user for the project path and load it before issuing tool calls
3. Pick a project from agent.serena_config.project_names (the message lists known ones)
4. Use a tool marked as not requiring an active project if that fits the intent

Example fix

// before
agent.get_tool(ListDirTool).apply(path='src')  # no active project
// ToolCallError: No active project...

// after
agent.get_tool(ActivateProjectTool).apply(project='/home/me/myrepo')
agent.get_tool(ListDirTool).apply(path='src')

if agent.get_active_project() is None:
    known = agent.serena_config.project_names
    raise NeedProjectInput(f'select one of: {known}')
result = tool.apply(...)

try:
    result = tool.apply(...)
except ToolCallError as e:
    if 'No active project' in str(e):
        agent.get_tool(ActivateProjectTool).apply(project=ask_user_or_pick())
        result = tool.apply(...)
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any file/symbol/memory tool before select_project/onboarding; the active project was deactivated; a fresh agent session where no project was ever set.

Common situations: Chat starts and the agent immediately calls find_file without activating a project; multi-project setups where the wrong agent instance is used; project activation failed silently earlier.

Related errors

• Tool ' ' is not active. Active tools
• activation_command_timeout must be a number, got
• activation_command_timeout must be positive, got
• Attempted to write to read_only memory
• Cannot use both fixed_tools and…

AI-assisted analysis of oraios/serena@7fcbca7e62 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d3c4e876c5531408. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/serena/tools/tools_base.py:369

            except Exception as e:
                log.info(f"Failed to get client info: {e}.")

        def task() -> str:
            apply_fn = self.get_apply_fn()

            try:
                if not self.is_active():
                    raise ToolCallError(
                        f"Tool '{self.get_name_from_cls()}' is not active. Active tools: {self.agent.get_active_tool_names()}"
                    )

                if log_call:
                    self._log_tool_application(inspect.currentframe(), session_id)

                # check whether the tool requires an active project and language server
                if not isinstance(self, ToolMarkerDoesNotRequireActiveProject):
                    if self.agent.get_active_project() is None:
                        raise ToolCallError(
                            "No active project. Ask the user to provide the project path or to select a project from this list of known projects: "
                            + f"{self.agent.serena_config.project_names}"
                        )

                # construct apply kwargs, adding session_id if the tool is session-aware
                apply_kwargs = dict(kwargs)
                if self._is_session_aware:
                    apply_kwargs["session_id"] = session_id

                # apply the actual tool
                try:
                    result = apply_fn(**apply_kwargs)
                except SolidLSPException as e:
                    if e.is_language_server_terminated():
                        affected_language = e.get_affected_language()
                        if affected_language is not None:
                            log.error(
                                f"Language server terminated while executing tool ({e}). Restarting the language server and retrying ..."

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fcbca7e62)