plandex-ai/plandex · error

error writing current plan settings: %v

Error message

error writing current plan settings: %v

What it means

This is the final write step of WriteCurrentBranch: os.WriteFile(path, bytes, 0644) persists settings-v2.json. If the write fails — permissions, disk full, read-only filesystem, path is a directory — the OS error is wrapped as 'error writing current plan settings: %v'. Note the in-memory CurrentBranch global is only updated after this succeeds, so a failure leaves branch state unchanged.

Source

Thrown at app/cli/lib/plans.go:156

	existingSettings := (*settingsByAccount)[auth.Current.UserId]

	if existingSettings == nil {
		existingSettings = &types.PlanSettings{}
	}

	existingSettings.Branch = branch
	(*settingsByAccount)[auth.Current.UserId] = existingSettings

	bytes, err = json.Marshal(settingsByAccount)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error marshalling current plan settings: %v", err)
	}

	err = os.WriteFile(path, bytes, 0644)

	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error writing current plan settings: %v", err)
	}

	CurrentBranch = branch

	return nil
}

func GetCurrentBranchNamesByPlanId(planIds []string) (map[string]string, error) {
	if fs.HomePlandexDir == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("HomePlandexDir not set")
	}

	if CurrentProjectId == "" || HomeCurrentPlanPath == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no current project")
	}

	var mu sync.Mutex
	branches := make(map[string]string)

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d772072e)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped OS error and address it: free disk space, fix permissions (chown/chmod), or remove a conflicting directory.
2. Verify ~/.plandex is writable by the current user: touch ~/.plandex/<project>/<plan>/settings-v2.json.test
3. If on a network mount, reconnect/remount read-write, then rerun the checkout/branch command.

Example fix

// error: ... no space left on device
$ df -h ~
$ rm -rf ~/tmp-cleanup   # free space
$ plandex checkout main

dir := filepath.Join(fs.HomePlandexDir, lib.CurrentProjectId, lib.CurrentPlanId)
if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, ".write-test"), []byte("ok"), 0644); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("~/.plandex not writable: %w", err)
}
os.Remove(filepath.Join(dir, ".write-test"))

if err := lib.WriteCurrentBranch(branch); err != nil {
    var pe *os.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) && errors.Is(pe.Err, syscall.ENOSPC) {
        return fmt.Errorf("disk full: free space and retry")
    }
    if errors.Is(err, os.ErrPermission) {
        return fmt.Errorf("run: chown -R $USER ~/.plandex")
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: os.WriteFile fails on ~/.plandex/<projectId>/<planId>/settings-v2.json: permission denied, read-only mount, no space left on device, or a directory exists at that exact path.

Common situations: Home dir quota exceeded or disk full; ~/.plandex ownership changed by running the CLI with sudo; a directory mistakenly created at settings-v2.json; network home dirs (NFS) gone read-only after a disconnect.

Related errors

• error walking directory: %s
• failed to check if %s exists: %s
• failed to read %s: %s
• failed to write %s: %s
• failed to remove %s: %s

AI-assisted analysis of plandex-ai/plandex@e2d772072e (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bea9860cad47696c. Report an issue: GitHub.