plandex-ai/plandex · error

failed to list contexts: %v

Error message

failed to list contexts: %v

What it means

MustLoadContext fetches existing contexts with api.Client.ListContext to avoid re-loading already-loaded files; this error means that list call failed via ApiErr.Msg. Without the existing-context list, deduplication cannot happen and the load aborts via onErr.

Source

Thrown at app/cli/lib/context_load.go:129

	errCh := make(chan error)
	ignoredPaths := make(map[string]string)

	mapFilesTruncatedTooLarge := []filePathWithSize{}
	mapFilesSkippedAfterSizeLimit := []string{}

	// We'll reuse these for all skipping, including directory-tree partial skipping and URLs
	filesSkippedTooLarge := []filePathWithSize{}
	filesSkippedAfterSizeLimit := []string{}

	var totalSize int64

	numRoutines := 0

	// filter out already loaded contexts
	alreadyLoadedByComposite := make(map[string]*shared.Context)
	existingContexts, apiErr := api.Client.ListContext(CurrentPlanId, CurrentBranch)
	if apiErr != nil {
		onErr(fmt.Errorf("failed to list contexts: %v", apiErr.Msg))
	}

	existsByComposite := make(map[string]*shared.Context)
	for _, context := range existingContexts {
		switch context.ContextType {
		case shared.ContextFileType, shared.ContextDirectoryTreeType, shared.ContextMapType, shared.ContextImageType:
			existsByComposite[strings.Join([]string{string(context.ContextType), context.FilePath}, "|")] = context
		case shared.ContextURLType:
			existsByComposite[strings.Join([]string{string(context.ContextType), context.Url}, "|")] = context
		}
	}

	var cachedMapPaths map[string]bool
	var cachedMapLoadRes *shared.LoadContextResponse

	mapInputShas := map[string]string{}
	mapInputTokens := map[string]int{}
	mapInputSizes := map[string]int64{}

View on GitHub (pinned to e2d772072e)

Solutions

1. Check server connectivity (PLANDEX_HOST / daemon status)
2. Re-authenticate if the message points at auth or permission
3. Verify plan/branch exist (`plandex plans`, `plandex branches`)
4. Retry; inspect server logs for the wrapped ApiErr.Msg

Example fix

// before
existingContexts, apiErr := api.Client.ListContext(CurrentPlanId, CurrentBranch)
if apiErr != nil {
	onErr(fmt.Errorf("failed to list contexts: %v", apiErr.Msg))
}
// after
existingContexts, apiErr := api.Client.ListContext(CurrentPlanId, CurrentBranch)
if apiErr != nil {
	if apiErr.Type == shared.ApiErrTypeAuthExpired {
		onErr(fmt.Errorf("session expired — run `plandex login`: %v", apiErr.Msg))
	}
	onErr(fmt.Errorf("failed to list contexts: %v", apiErr.Msg))
}

// pre-check auth and plan before listing contexts
if auth.Current == nil || auth.Current.SessionId == "" {
	return fmt.Errorf("not logged in — run `plandex login` first")
}
if CurrentPlanId == "" {
	return fmt.Errorf("no current plan selected")
}

// Go: nil-guard the ApiErr before reading Msg
func isApiErr(err error) (*shared.ApiErr, bool) {
	if apiErr, ok := err.(*shared.ApiErr); ok && apiErr != nil { return apiErr, true }
	return nil, false
}

// Go: exponential backoff on list failures
var existingContexts []*shared.Context
var apiErr *shared.ApiErr
for i := 0; i < 3; i++ {
	existingContexts, apiErr = api.Client.ListContext(CurrentPlanId, CurrentBranch)
	if apiErr == nil { break }
	time.Sleep(time.Duration(1<<i) * 500 * time.Millisecond)
}
if apiErr != nil { onErr(fmt.Errorf("failed to list contexts: %v", apiErr.Msg)) }

When it happens

Trigger: api.Client.ListContext(CurrentPlanId, CurrentBranch) returns non-nil ApiErr — server unreachable, expired auth session, invalid plan/branch id, or server-side error.

Common situations: Stale session token after server restart; plan deleted in another terminal; offline/proxy outage; server deploy mid-command.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API request failed": what wrapped HTTP errors from external APIs mean and how to find the real cause — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

• error signing in: %v
• error listing contexts: %v
• error getting context body: %v
• error getting default config: %v
• error creating plan: %v

AI-assisted analysis of plandex-ai/plandex@e2d772072e (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/64dd38361c1fda64. Report an issue: GitHub.