paperclipai/paperclip · error

failed with exit code

Error message

${action} failed with exit code ${result.exitCode ?? "null"}${detail}

What it means

Generic failure wrapper for command-managed runtime lifecycle actions (start/stop/exec): the managed child process exited non-zero; the formatted tail of its stderr/stdout is appended as detail. This is the single choke point reporting the underlying process failure.

Solutions

1. Inspect the command output in the error detail and fix the underlying failure, then retry.
2. Run the failing command manually to reproduce and diagnose.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.ts:130 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@3f1d897a7c (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f425b51782887fff. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.ts:181

function toBuffer(bytes: Buffer | Uint8Array | ArrayBuffer): Buffer {
  if (Buffer.isBuffer(bytes)) return bytes;
  if (bytes instanceof ArrayBuffer) return Buffer.from(bytes);
  return Buffer.from(bytes.buffer, bytes.byteOffset, bytes.byteLength);
}

const FAILED_COMMAND_OUTPUT_TAIL_CHARS = 4_000;

function formatFailedCommandOutput(result: RunProcessResult): string {
  const tail = (text: string): string => {
    const trimmed = text.trim();
    if (trimmed.length <= FAILED_COMMAND_OUTPUT_TAIL_CHARS) return trimmed;
    return `...[truncated]\n${trimmed.slice(-FAILED_COMMAND_OUTPUT_TAIL_CHARS)}`;
  };
  const stderr = tail(result.stderr);
  const stdout = tail(result.stdout);
  const parts: string[] = [];
  if (stderr.length > 0) parts.push(`stderr: ${stderr}`);
  if (stdout.length > 0) parts.push(`stdout: ${stdout}`);
  return parts.length > 0 ? `:\n${parts.join("\n")}` : "";
}

function requireSuccessfulResult(result: RunProcessResult, action: string): void {
  if (result.exitCode === 0 && !result.timedOut) return;
  const detail = formatFailedCommandOutput(result);
  throw new Error(`${action} failed with exit code ${result.exitCode ?? "null"}${detail}`);
}

function bufferToArrayBuffer(buffer: Buffer): ArrayBuffer {
  // Copy out of the (possibly pooled) Node Buffer so the ArrayBuffer we hand to
  // the client transport owns exactly these bytes.
  return buffer.buffer.slice(buffer.byteOffset, buffer.byteOffset + buffer.byteLength) as ArrayBuffer;
}

// Named builder (Security Condition C3): extract an uploaded tarball into its
// target directory as a clean destroy-then-replace, then remove the tarball.
// Every path is shell-quoted; the fallback NEVER concatenates untrusted asset

View on GitHub (pinned to 3f1d897a7c)