plandex-ai/plandex · error

error building plan: %v

Error message

error building plan: %v

What it means

Build wraps a non-nil API error message returned by the server when the plan build request fails. It is not the 'no pending changes' case (NoBuildsErr is handled separately) — it is a genuine build failure reported by the backend, surfaced verbatim via apiErr.Msg.

Source

Thrown at app/cli/plan_exec/build.go:66

		log.Println("Build canceled")
		return false, nil
	}

	apiErr = api.Client.BuildPlan(params.CurrentPlanId, params.CurrentBranch, shared.BuildPlanRequest{
		ConnectStream: !buildBg,
		ProjectPaths:  paths.ActivePaths,
		AuthVars:      params.AuthVars,
	}, stream.OnStreamPlan)

	term.StopSpinner()

	if apiErr != nil {
		if apiErr.Msg == shared.NoBuildsErr {
			fmt.Println("🤷‍♂️ This plan has no pending changes to build")
			return false, nil
		}

		return false, fmt.Errorf("error building plan: %v", apiErr.Msg)
	}

	if !buildBg {
		ch := make(chan error)

		go func() {
			err := streamtui.StartStreamUI("", true, !flags.AutoApply)

			if err != nil {
				ch <- fmt.Errorf("error starting stream UI: %v", err)
				return
			}

			ch <- nil
		}()

		// Wait for the stream to finish
		err := <-ch

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d772072e)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped apiErr.Msg for the server-side cause
2. Re-run the build; transient server errors often resolve on retry
3. Re-authenticate (login) if the message indicates auth issues
4. If the plan state is corrupt, reset or rebuild the plan from a prior commit

// check session/auth state before building
if _, err := api.Client.PlanContexts(...); err != nil {
    term.OutputErrorAndExit("re-authenticate before building: %v", err)
}

func isNoBuildsErr(err error) bool {
    var apiErr *shared.ApiErr
    return errors.As(err, &apiErr) && apiErr.Msg == shared.NoBuildsErr
}

ok, err := Build(params)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error building plan") {
        // inspect server message; retry transient failures, re-auth on 401
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: The build API call returns an error whose Msg is not shared.NoBuildsErr: server-side build failure, invalid plan state, authentication/session errors, or internal server error.

Common situations: Plan in a corrupt/invalid state after a crashed build; server rejected the build because of a conflicting concurrent build; expired auth producing an API error message.

Related errors

• Error building plan
• error listing orgs: %v
• error signing in: %v
• error creating account: %v
• error creating email verification: %v

AI-assisted analysis of plandex-ai/plandex@e2d772072e (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/25be201651017925. Report an issue: GitHub.