redis/node-redis · warning · Error

docker rm error - ${stderr}

Error message

docker rm error - ${stderr}

What it means

dockerRemove runs `docker rm -f <id>` and treats ANY non-empty stderr as fatal. This runs in after() hooks that clean up Redis/proxy/cluster/sentinel containers. Note that Docker sometimes writes warnings to stderr even on success, so this guard can fire on benign messages.

Source

Thrown at packages/test-utils/lib/dockers.ts:241

    dockerId: stdout.trim(),
  };
}

export function spawnRedisServer(dockerConfig: RedisServerDockerOptions, serverArguments: Array<string>): Promise<RedisServerDocker> {
  const runningServer = RUNNING_SERVERS.get(serverArguments);
  if (runningServer) {
    return runningServer;
  }

  const dockerPromise = spawnRedisServerDocker(dockerConfig, serverArguments);
  RUNNING_SERVERS.set(serverArguments, dockerPromise);
  return dockerPromise;
}

async function dockerRemove(dockerId: string): Promise<void> {
  const { stderr } = await execAsync('docker', ['rm', '-f', dockerId]);
  if (stderr) {
    throw new Error(`docker rm error - ${stderr}`);
  }
}



/**
 * Reads a file from a Docker container directly into memory
 * @param dockerId - The Docker container ID
 * @param filePath - Path to the file inside the container
 * @returns Buffer containing the file contents
 */
async function readFileFromContainer(
  dockerId: string,
  filePath: string,
): Promise<Buffer> {
  const { stdout, stderr } = await execAsync("docker", [
    "exec",
    dockerId,

View on GitHub (pinned to 90fd0652bc)

Solutions

1. Read the stderr text in the message — if it is a 'No such container' notice, the container was already gone and the error is benign
2. Filter stderr for the known-benign 'No such container' substring before failing
3. Run docker ps -a to see what containers remain and reconcile state

Example fix

// before — any stderr aborts removal
const { stderr } = await execAsync('docker', ['rm', '-f', dockerId]);
if (stderr) throw new Error(`docker rm error - ${stderr}`);

// after — tolerate 'No such container'
if (stderr && !/No such container/i.test(stderr)) {
  throw new Error(`docker rm error - ${stderr}`);
}

import { execFile } from 'node:child_process';
import { promisify } from 'node:util';
const exec = promisify(execFile);
async function containerExists(id: string): Promise<boolean> {
  try { await exec('docker', ['inspect', id]); return true; } catch { return false; }
}

try {
  await dockerRemove(dockerId);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /docker rm error/.test(e.message) && /No such container/.test(e.message)) {
    return; // already removed, benign
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Container already removed by a prior cleanup pass (double cleanup); container ID invalid/stale; Docker daemon error during forced removal; a non-fatal warning written to stderr.

Common situations: A test crashed mid-suite and partial cleanup already ran; the after() hook and an explicit teardown both target the same container; Docker emits a deprecation/policy warning to stderr.

Related errors

• docker run error - ${stderr}
• All ports are in use
• Failed to read ${filePath} from container: ${stderr}
• TLS certificates not available after ${maxWaitMs}ms
• Invalid JSON configuration: ${error}

AI-assisted analysis of redis/node-redis@90fd0652bc (2026-08-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d8284b8bfa832bf1. Report an issue: GitHub.