stablyai/orca · error · Error

Could not create a temporary WSL Claude login directory.

Error message

Could not create a temporary WSL Claude login directory.

What it means

Thrown by createTemporaryClaudeConfigDir() when the WSL `mktemp -d` invocation returned a path that does not start with '/' (after stripping NULs and trimming). This means mktemp output was malformed or empty — the temp directory for the login was not actually created inside the distro, so the subsequent path translation would be invalid.

Source

Thrown at src/main/claude-accounts/service.ts:676

    if (!location.wslDistro) {
      throw new Error('Could not resolve the active WSL distribution for Claude login.')
    }
    const linuxPath = execFileSync(
      'wsl.exe',
      [
        '-d',
        location.wslDistro,
        '--',
        'bash',
        '-lc',
        'mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/orca-claude-login.XXXXXX"'
      ],
      { encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 5000 }
    )
      .replaceAll(String.fromCharCode(0), '')
      .trim()
    if (!linuxPath.startsWith('/')) {
      throw new Error('Could not create a temporary WSL Claude login directory.')
    }
    return {
      windowsPath: toWindowsWslPath(linuxPath, location.wslDistro),
      linuxPath,
      wslDistro: location.wslDistro
    }
  }

  private removeTemporaryClaudeConfigDir(tempConfig: {
    windowsPath: string
    linuxPath: string | null
    wslDistro: string | null
  }): void {
    if (tempConfig.linuxPath && tempConfig.wslDistro) {
      try {
        execFileSync(
          'wsl.exe',
          [

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

Verify the WSL distro boots and `wsl -d <distro> -- bash -lc 'mktemp -d'` returns a valid /tmp path manually.
Increase the 5000ms execFileSync timeout if the distro is slow to start.
Ensure TMPDIR and /tmp are writable inside the distro.
If wsl.exe returns CRLF or other encoding artifacts, normalize before validating (the code already strips NULs).

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
  return createTemporaryClaudeConfigDir(location)
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error && /Could not create a temporary WSL/.test(error.message)) {
    // verify distro health: wsl -d <distro> -- bash -lc 'mktemp -d'
  }
  throw error
}

Prevention

Verify the distro boots and mktemp works before login.
Increase the 5s execFileSync timeout for slow distros.
Ensure TMPDIR and /tmp are writable in the distro.
Normalize wsl.exe stdout encoding (strip CRLF/NUL) before validating.

When it happens

Trigger: wsl.exe ran but mktemp produced no output, an error message instead of a path, or output that got mangled by encoding (CRLF, NUL, locale). The 5s timeout on execFileSync was hit and returned partial/empty stdout. The distro's TMPDIR is unset and /tmp is not writable.

Common situations: WSL distro misconfiguration (no /tmp, read-only). mktemp binary missing or broken in the distro. Locale/encoding corruption of wsl.exe stdout. The 5000ms timeout fired on a slow distro startup.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/66256f27fe61e514. Report an issue: GitHub.