siyuan-note/siyuan · error

write workspace conf [%s] failed: %s

Error message

write workspace conf [%s] failed: %s

What it means

After successfully marshaling the workspace-paths list, WriteWorkspacePaths writes the bytes to ~/.config/siyuan/workspace.json through filelock.WriteFile. This error means that locked file write failed (disk, permissions, lock contention, or path problems). The write is what registers/unregisters workspace directories in the launcher UI.

Source

Thrown at kernel/util/working.go:463

	ret = DeduplicateWorkspacePaths(ret)
	return
}

func WriteWorkspacePaths(workspacePaths []string) (err error) {
	workspacePaths = DeduplicateWorkspacePaths(workspacePaths)
	workspaceConf := filepath.Join(HomeDir, ".config", "siyuan", "workspace.json")
	data, err := gulu.JSON.MarshalJSON(workspacePaths)
	if err != nil {
		msg := fmt.Sprintf("marshal workspace conf [%s] failed: %s", workspaceConf, err)
		logging.LogError(msg)
		err = errors.New(msg)
		return
	}

	if err = filelock.WriteFile(workspaceConf, data); err != nil {
		msg := fmt.Sprintf("write workspace conf [%s] failed: %s", workspaceConf, err)
		logging.LogError(msg)
		err = errors.New(msg)
		return
	}
	return
}

var (
	ServerURL  *url.URL // 内核服务 URL
	ServerPort = "0"    // HTTP/WebSocket 端口，0 为使用随机端口

	ReadOnly       bool
	AccessAuthCode string
	Lang           = ""

	Container        string // docker, android, ios, harmony, std
	ISMicrosoftStore bool   // 桌面端是否是微软商店版
)

const (

View on GitHub (pinned to 8641553a1f)

Solutions

1. Check kernel log for the underlying write error wrapped in the message
2. Verify ~/.config/siyuan/workspace.json is writable by the running user (ls -l, chown if it was created by root)
3. Free disk space / confirm the home filesystem is not mounted read-only
4. Close other SiYuan instances or processes locking the file, then retry
5. If irrecoverable, back up and remove workspace.json; it is regenerated on next workspace open

Example fix

// before: repeated 'write workspace conf failed' as root-created file
sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.config/siyuan
// after: file writable, workspace list persists normally

// Go: check the config file is writable before triggering workspace ops
conf := filepath.Join(os.Getenv("HOME"), ".config", "siyuan", "workspace.json")
if f, err := os.OpenFile(conf, os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0644); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("workspace.json not writable: %w", err)
} else { f.Close() }

// Go
if err := util.WriteWorkspacePaths(paths); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "write workspace conf") {
        // surface a user-facing hint about ~/.config/siyuan permissions/disk space
        return err
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any caller of WriteWorkspacePaths (setWorkspaceDir, createWorkspaceDir, removeWorkspaceDir, removeWorkspaceDirPhysically, Close) when filelock.WriteFile cannot write ~/.config/siyuan/workspace.json.

Common situations: Read-only or full home directory; ~/.config/siyuan owned by another user (ran once as root/sudo); antivirus or backup tool holding the file; disk full; corrupted file lock state.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to write file", "Could not save figure", "Error saving remote file" — file write failed: causes and fixes across languages and libraries — this error's family across 38 libraries.

Related errors

• write inline styles failed: %w
• write file failed:
• install local marketplace package failed: %w; rollback faile
• read session file failed: %w
• create session dir failed: %w

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@8641553a1f (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8d852179141dd2fc. Report an issue: GitHub.