Backfill work items must target a projectId or rootIssueId…

Error message

Backfill work items must target a projectId or rootIssueId; whole-company backfill is not allowed.

What it means

Error "Backfill work items must target a projectId or rootIssueId; whole-company backfill is not allowed." thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Solutions

Set projectId or rootIssueId on the backfill work item; company-wide backfill is not supported.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/plugins/plugin-llm-wiki/src/wiki/core.ts:2904 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@5716fe907e (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0889bb4ea59d83f1. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/plugins/plugin-llm-wiki/src/wiki/core.ts:2902

          AND id = $6`,
      [input.companyId, wikiId, input.runId, input.sourceWindowEnd, input.sourceHash, input.cursorId, space.id],
    );
  }

  return {
    status: input.status,
    cursorAdvanced: input.status === "succeeded" && Boolean(input.cursorId && input.sourceHash && input.sourceWindowEnd),
  };
}

export async function createPaperclipDistillationWorkItem(ctx: PluginContext, input: PaperclipDistillationWorkItemInput) {
  const wikiId = normalizeWikiId(input.wikiId);
  assertPaperclipSourceScopePayload(input);
  const space = await requirePaperclipIngestionPolicy(ctx, { companyId: input.companyId, wikiId, spaceSlug: input.spaceSlug }, "queue", { requireEnabledProfile: true });
  const itemId = randomUUID();
  const scope = paperclipCursorScopeMetadata(input);
  if (input.kind === "backfill" && !scope.projectId && !scope.rootIssueId) {
    throw new Error("Backfill work items must target a projectId or rootIssueId; whole-company backfill is not allowed.");
  }
  await ctx.db.execute(
    `INSERT INTO ${distillationWorkItemTable(ctx)} AS paperclip_distillation_work_items
       (id, company_id, wiki_id, space_id, work_item_kind, status, priority, project_id, root_issue_id, requested_by_issue_id, idempotency_key, metadata)
     VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $11, $4, 'pending', $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, $10::jsonb)
     ON CONFLICT (company_id, wiki_id, space_id, idempotency_key)
     DO UPDATE SET priority = EXCLUDED.priority,
                   metadata = paperclip_distillation_work_items.metadata || EXCLUDED.metadata,
                   updated_at = now()`,
    [
      itemId,
      input.companyId,
      wikiId,
      input.kind,
      input.priority ?? "medium",
      scope.projectId,
      scope.rootIssueId,
      input.requestedByIssueId ?? null,

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