paperclipai/paperclip · error · Error

Previous payload is missing: ${target.payloadPath}

Error message

Previous payload is missing: ${target.payloadPath}

What it means

Rollback selected a previous payload record whose payloadPath no longer exists on disk, so the roll back target is unavailable.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/update.ts:133

}

export function resolveUpdateRequest(manifest: InstallManifest | null, options: Pick<UpdateOptions, "canary" | "latest" | "version">): { spec: string; channel: InstallChannel; explicit: boolean } {
  const selected = Number(Boolean(options.canary)) + Number(Boolean(options.latest)) + Number(Boolean(options.version));
  if (selected > 1) throw new Error("Choose only one of --latest, --canary, or --version.");
  if (options.version) return { spec: options.version.trim(), channel: "pinned", explicit: true };
  if (options.canary) return { spec: "canary", channel: "canary", explicit: true };
  if (options.latest) return { spec: "latest", channel: "latest", explicit: true };
  if (manifest?.channel === "pinned") return { spec: manifest.version, channel: "pinned", explicit: false };
  const channel = manifest?.channel === "canary" ? "canary" : "latest";
  return { spec: channel, channel, explicit: false };
}

export function rollbackManagedInstall(paths = resolveInstallStorePaths()): InstallManifest {
  const manifest = readInstallManifest(paths);
  if (!manifest) throw new Error("No managed install was found to roll back.");
  const target = manifest.previous[0];
  if (!target) throw new Error("No previous managed payload is available for rollback.");
  if (!fs.existsSync(target.payloadPath)) throw new Error(`Previous payload is missing: ${target.payloadPath}`);
  const current: InstallRecord = { source: manifest.source, version: manifest.version, channel: manifest.channel, payloadPath: manifest.payloadPath, repo: manifest.repo, ref: manifest.ref, sha: manifest.sha, installedAt: manifest.installedAt };
  const next: InstallManifest = { schemaVersion: manifest.schemaVersion, ...target, previous: [current, ...manifest.previous.slice(1)].slice(0, 2) };
  const oldTarget = fs.readlinkSync(paths.currentPath);
  flipCurrentAtomic(target.payloadPath, paths);
  try { writeInstallManifestAtomic(next, paths); } catch (error) { flipCurrentAtomic(path.resolve(paths.cliRoot, oldTarget), paths); throw error; }
  return next;
}

async function defaultConfirm(message: string): Promise<boolean> {
  if (!process.stdin.isTTY || !process.stdout.isTTY) return false;
  const answer = await p.confirm({ message, initialValue: false });
  return !p.isCancel(answer) && answer === true;
}
function emit(options: UpdateOptions, value: Record<string, unknown>, message: string): void { if (options.json) console.log(JSON.stringify(value, null, 2)); else console.log(message); }

async function rollbackAfterServiceValidationFailure(
  paths: InstallStorePaths,
  restartActiveService: (expectedVersion: string) => Promise<boolean>,

View on GitHub (pinned to 01ad858492)

Solutions

1. Reinstall the previous version explicitly with --version, since the recorded payload is missing.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/commands/update.ts:133 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@01ad858492 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e9066a1b757f1b6c. Report an issue: GitHub.