sinelaw/fresh · critical

Cannot save: remote connection lost

Error message

Cannot save: remote connection lost ({})

What it means

save fails fast when the remote filesystem connection is down, before attempting to write the buffer, because the write would either time out or produce a confusing I/O error. The host info is included when known.

Solutions

1. Reconnect the remote session, then retry the save.
2. Before saving (especially on close), check is_remote_connected() and warn the user so edits aren't lost.
3. Offer a local fallback save (e.g. write to a temp file) when the remote is unreachable.

Example fix

// before
if editor.buffer_is_modified(id) { editor.save()?; } // may bail on disconnect
// after
if editor.buffer_is_modified(id) {
    if !editor.filesystem().is_remote_connected() { editor.reconnect_remote()?; }
    editor.save()?;
}

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

match editor.save() { Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("Cannot save: remote connection lost") => { backup_to_local_tmp(buffer); notify_user(); } r => r }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Editor::save (from handle_action, handle_prompt_confirm_input, or handle_confirm_close_buffer) while authority().filesystem.is_remote_connected() is false.

Common situations: Pressing Ctrl+S after an SSH drop; closing a buffer with a pending save prompt during a network outage; saving on laptop sleep/resume where the remote session died.

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

• Cannot open file: remote connection lost
• ${built.error}
• No file path associated with buffer
• could not open from container
• Cannot open files from multiple remote hosts. First

AI-assisted analysis of sinelaw/fresh@67894ca546 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/29638acb26e6fe0e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/fresh-editor/src/app/file_operations.rs:50

        .iter()
        .filter(|(_, state)| {
            state.buffer.is_modified()
                && state
                    .buffer
                    .file_path()
                    .map(|p| p.as_os_str().is_empty())
                    .unwrap_or(true)
        })
        .map(|(id, _)| *id)
        .collect()
}

impl Editor {
    /// Save the active buffer
    pub fn save(&mut self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
        // Fail fast if remote connection is down
        if !self.authority().filesystem.is_remote_connected() {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "Cannot save: remote connection lost ({})",
                self.authority()
                    .filesystem
                    .remote_connection_info()
                    .unwrap_or("unknown host")
            );
        }

        let path = self
            .active_state()
            .buffer
            .file_path()
            .map(|p| p.to_path_buf());

        match self.active_state_mut().buffer.save() {
            Ok(()) => self.finalize_save(path),
            Err(e) => {
                if let Some(sudo_info) = e.downcast_ref::<SudoSaveRequired>() {

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