paperclipai/paperclip · error

${label} exited via ${result.signal}${stderr.trim() ? `: ${s

Error message

${label} exited via ${result.signal}${stderr.trim() ? `: ${stderr.trim()}` : ""}

What it means

Error "${label} exited via ${result.signal}${stderr.trim() ? `: ${stderr.trim()}` : ""}" thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Source

Thrown at packages/db/src/backup-lib.ts:313

function appendCapturedStderr(previous: string, chunk: Buffer | string): string {
  const next = previous + (Buffer.isBuffer(chunk) ? chunk.toString("utf8") : chunk);
  if (Buffer.byteLength(next, "utf8") <= BACKUP_CLI_STDERR_BYTES) return next;
  return Buffer.from(next, "utf8").subarray(-BACKUP_CLI_STDERR_BYTES).toString("utf8");
}

async function waitForChildExit(child: ReturnType<typeof spawn>, label: string): Promise<void> {
  let stderr = "";
  child.stderr?.on("data", (chunk) => {
    stderr = appendCapturedStderr(stderr, chunk);
  });

  const result = await new Promise<{ code: number | null; signal: NodeJS.Signals | null }>((resolve, reject) => {
    child.once("error", reject);
    child.once("exit", (code, signal) => resolve({ code, signal }));
  });

  if (result.signal) {
    throw new Error(`${label} exited via ${result.signal}${stderr.trim() ? `: ${stderr.trim()}` : ""}`);
  }
  if (result.code !== 0) {
    throw new Error(`${label} failed with exit code ${result.code ?? "unknown"}${stderr.trim() ? `: ${stderr.trim()}` : ""}`);
  }
}

async function runPgDumpBackup(opts: {
  connectionString: string;
  backupFile: string;
  connectTimeout: number;
}): Promise<void> {
  const pgDumpBin = process.env.PAPERCLIP_PG_DUMP_PATH || "pg_dump";
  const child = spawn(
    pgDumpBin,
    [
      `--dbname=${opts.connectionString}`,
      "--format=plain",
      "--clean",

View on GitHub (pinned to 120ae5428f)

Solutions

1. Inspect the signal and stderr in the error and fix the cause, then retry.
2. Check for OOM kills or external termination of ${label}.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/db/src/backup-lib.ts:313 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@120ae5428f (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f9dcf051611b577e. Report an issue: GitHub.