sinelaw/fresh · critical

Cannot open file: remote connection lost

Error message

Cannot open file: remote connection lost ({})

What it means

open_file_no_focus_inner checks the remote filesystem connection up front and bails if it is disconnected, avoiding I/O calls that would hang or produce confusing errors. The message includes the remote host info when available.

Solutions

1. Reconnect the remote filesystem/session before retrying the open.
2. Check connection state with is_remote_connected()/remote_connection_info() before issuing file operations.
3. Retry the open after the network is restored; add automatic reconnect logic to the remote authority.

Example fix

// before
editor.open_file_no_focus(path)?;
// after
if editor.filesystem().is_remote_connected() {
    editor.open_file_no_focus(path)?;
} else {
    editor.reconnect_remote()?;
    editor.open_file_no_focus(path)?;
}

if !editor.filesystem().is_remote_connected() { editor.reconnect_remote()?; }

match open_res { Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("Cannot open file: remote connection lost") => reconnect_and_retry(), Err(e) => return Err(e), Ok(id) => Ok(id) }

When it happens

Trigger: Any open path (open_file_no_focus, open_file_no_focus_with_kind, open_file_for_preview) when authority().filesystem.is_remote_connected() returns false — SSH/remote session dropped before the open attempt.

Common situations: Network drop or SSH disconnect during an editing session; remote host rebooted; trying to open a file after the remote session was closed but the editor is still running.

Understand the failure class

Background: ECONNREFUSED and "connection refused" / "could not connect to server" errors: what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 44 libraries.

Related errors

• could not open from container
• Cannot save: remote connection lost
• ${built.error}
• Cannot open files from multiple remote hosts. First
• Cannot mix local and remote files. Use either local paths…

AI-assisted analysis of sinelaw/fresh@67894ca546 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d72b907c15312742. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/fresh-editor/src/app/file_open_orchestrators.rs:1066

        // Notify LSP about the newly opened file (skip for binary files)
        if !is_binary {
            self.notify_lsp_file_opened(path, buffer_id, &mut metadata);
        }

        // Store metadata for this buffer
        self.buffer_metadata.insert(buffer_id, metadata);
    }

    fn open_file_no_focus_inner(
        &mut self,
        path: &Path,
        allow_replace_empty: bool,
        kind: OpenKind,
    ) -> anyhow::Result<BufferId> {
        // Fail fast if the remote connection is down — don't attempt I/O that
        // would either timeout or return confusing errors.
        if !self.authority().filesystem.is_remote_connected() {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "Cannot open file: remote connection lost ({})",
                self.authority()
                    .filesystem
                    .remote_connection_info()
                    .unwrap_or("unknown host")
            );
        }

        // Resolve relative paths against appropriate base directory.
        // For remote mode, use the remote home directory; for local, use
        // this window's root.
        let base_dir = if self
            .authority()
            .filesystem
            .remote_connection_info()
            .is_some()
        {
            self.authority()

View on GitHub (pinned to 67894ca546)