paperclipai/paperclip · error

Failed to create remote workspace directory '${remoteCwd}':

Error message

Failed to create remote workspace directory '${remoteCwd}': mkdir exited with code ${exitCode}

What it means

Thrown by ensureRemoteWorkspace in the Modal sandbox provider. Fires when the one-shot exec that mkdirs the remote workspace directory exits non-zero, so the plugin cannot set up the workspace cwd before running commands.

Source

Thrown at packages/plugins/sandbox-providers/modal/src/plugin.ts:264

    'if [ -f "$HOME/.profile" ]; then . "$HOME/.profile" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; fi',
    'if [ -f "$HOME/.bash_profile" ]; then . "$HOME/.bash_profile" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; elif [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then . "$HOME/.bashrc" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; fi',
    'if [ -f "$HOME/.zprofile" ]; then . "$HOME/.zprofile" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true; fi',
  ];
  if (input.cwd) {
    lines.push(`cd ${shellQuote(input.cwd)}`);
  }
  lines.push(finalLine);
  return lines.join(" && ");
}

async function ensureRemoteWorkspace(sandbox: Sandbox, remoteCwd: string): Promise<void> {
  // Use a one-shot exec to mkdir -p; Modal does not expose a direct
  // filesystem mkdir helper and creating a file via `open()` does not create
  // intermediate directories.
  const proc = await sandbox.exec(["sh", "-lc", `mkdir -p ${shellQuote(remoteCwd)}`]);
  const exitCode = await proc.wait();
  if (exitCode !== 0) {
    throw new Error(
      `Failed to create remote workspace directory '${remoteCwd}': mkdir exited with code ${exitCode}`,
    );
  }
}

async function stageStdin(sandbox: Sandbox, stdin: string, remotePath: string): Promise<void> {
  const file = await sandbox.open(remotePath, "w");
  try {
    await file.write(new TextEncoder().encode(stdin));
    await file.flush();
  } finally {
    await file.close().catch(() => undefined);
  }
}

async function deleteStdinPath(sandbox: Sandbox, remotePath: string): Promise<void> {
  // Best-effort cleanup of the staged stdin file. We swallow errors because
  // it is fine for the file to outlive the sandbox if it is going to be

View on GitHub (pinned to a7e689b3c3)

Solutions

1. Check permissions and path validity on the remote sandbox; create parent dirs or fix remoteCwd.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/plugins/sandbox-providers/modal/src/plugin.ts:264 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/40512f54807b0ab1. Report an issue: GitHub.