paperclipai/paperclip · error

Cannot rebuild the git worktree: the base project checkout d

Error message

Cannot rebuild the git worktree: the base project checkout directory does not exist.

What it means

Worktree rebuild validated the base project checkout and its recorded baseCwd does not exist on disk. The pre-spawn guard gives a precise cause (missing base checkout) before the git worktree add would fail opaquely.

Source

Thrown at server/src/services/workspace-runtime.ts:3402

    if (!await directoryExists(cwd)) {
      return null;
    }
    return realized;
  }
  // Validate the base checkout before the git spawn. A missing or empty base
  // path makes the "git" spawn fail with a raw "spawn git ENOENT" error. That
  // error hides the real cause: the base project checkout is not on disk.
  // Throw a clear cause first so a future failure names the missing checkout.
  // Keep the persisted path exact. A directory name can start or end with a
  // space, so a trim would change a valid checkout path.
  const baseCwd = asString(input.base.baseCwd, "");
  if (!baseCwd) {
    throw new Error(
      "Cannot rebuild the git worktree: the base project checkout path is empty.",
    );
  }
  if (!await directoryExists(baseCwd)) {
    throw new Error(
      "Cannot rebuild the git worktree: the base project checkout directory does not exist.",
    );
  }
  const repoRoot = await runGit(["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"], baseCwd);
  const recordedBaseRefSha = readRecordedBaseRefSha(input.workspace.metadata);
  if (await directoryExists(cwd)) {
    const reuseBaseRef = input.workspace.baseRef ?? input.base.repoRef ?? null;
    const reuseWorktreePath = realized.worktreePath ?? cwd;
    const repairWarnings: string[] = [];
    if (await isGitCheckout(reuseWorktreePath)) {
      const coherence = await ensureGitWorktreeBranchCoherent({
        db: input.db ?? null,
        repoRoot,
        worktreePath: reuseWorktreePath,
        expectedBranchName: realized.branchName,
        sourceIssue: input.issue,
        executionWorkspaceId: input.workspace.id ?? null,
        heartbeatRunId: input.heartbeatRunId ?? null,

View on GitHub (pinned to a7e689b3c3)

Solutions

1. Restore or re-clone the base project checkout directory, then retry the worktree rebuild.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/src/services/workspace-runtime.ts:3343 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@a7e689b3c3 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2ac1b67984c221ea. Report an issue: GitHub.