plandex-ai/plandex · error

error checking model settings file: %v

Error message

error checking model settings file: %v

What it means

ModelSettingsCheckLocalChanges inspects the model settings file and its .hash sidecar to detect local edits. This error wraps fs.FileExists failure on the settings file itself — the function cannot even determine whether the file exists, so local-change detection is aborted.

Source

Thrown at app/cli/lib/model_settings.go:37

func init() {
	DefaultModelSettingsPath = filepath.Join(fs.HomePlandexDir, "default-model-settings.json")
}

func GetPlanModelSettingsPath(planId string) string {
	return filepath.Join(fs.HomePlandexDir, planId, "model-settings.json")
}

type ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult struct {
	HasLocalChanges           bool
	LocalModelPackSchemaRoles *shared.ModelPackSchemaRoles
}

func ModelSettingsCheckLocalChanges(path string) (ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult, error) {
	hashPath := path + ".hash"

	exists, err := fs.FileExists(path)
	if err != nil {
		return ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult{}, fmt.Errorf("error checking model settings file: %v", err)
	}

	if !exists {
		return ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult{}, nil
	}

	lastSavedHash, err := os.ReadFile(hashPath)
	if err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
		return ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult{}, fmt.Errorf("error reading hash file: %v", err)
	}

	localJsonData, err := os.ReadFile(path)
	if err != nil {
		return ModelSettingsCheckLocalChangesResult{}, fmt.Errorf("error reading JSON file: %v", err)
	}

	var clientModelPackSchemaRoles *shared.ClientModelPackSchemaRoles
	err = json.Unmarshal(localJsonData, &clientModelPackSchemaRoles)

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d772072e)

Solutions

1. Check permissions on the settings file and each parent directory in the reported path.
2. Verify the volume backing the path is healthy and mounted.
3. Pass a path the current user can stat; correct the path if it was constructed incorrectly.

Example fix

// before: unhandled
res, err := ModelSettingsCheckLocalChanges(settingsPath)
// after
res, err := ModelSettingsCheckLocalChanges(settingsPath)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("check perms on %s and its parent dirs: %w", settingsPath, err)
}

dir := filepath.Dir(settingsPath)
if f, err := os.Open(dir); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot access settings dir %s: %w", dir, err)
} else {
    f.Close()
}

res, err := ModelSettingsCheckLocalChanges(settingsPath)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "checking model settings file") {
        return fmt.Errorf("cannot stat %s — check permissions and mount health: %w", settingsPath, err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: fs.FileExists(path) returns an error for the model settings path: permission denied on a parent directory, I/O error, or a filesystem-level failure during stat.

Common situations: The project directory or the settings file's parent was chmod'd restrictively; a network mount dropped mid-operation; path points into a directory the user can't traverse.

Related errors

• failed to read file %s: %v
• failed to open file %s: %w
• error checking if settings-v2.json exists: %v
• error creating account credentials directory: %v
• error writing account credentials: %v

AI-assisted analysis of plandex-ai/plandex@e2d772072e (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d74a039adb4d332. Report an issue: GitHub.