stablyai/orca · error · Error

Could not find an available worktree name for "${sanitizedNa

Error message

Could not find an available worktree name for "${sanitizedName}". Pick a different worktree name.

What it means

Local worktree create exhausted all suffixed candidate paths with neither a branch conflict nor a PR conflict recorded — resolved stayed false and both lastExistingReviewNumber and lastBranchConflictKind are null. This is a pure path-collision failure: every candidate worktreePath already exists on disk (existsSync true), unrelated to branches or reviews.

Source

Thrown at src/main/ipc/worktree-remote.ts:2207

    }

    resolved = true
    break
  }

  if (!resolved) {
    // Why: every suffix collided; reject with a specific reason so the user sees why create failed instead of a generic error or hung spinner.
    if (lastExistingReviewNumber !== null) {
      throw new Error(
        `Branch "${branchName}" already has PR #${lastExistingReviewNumber}. Pick a different ${branchConflictSubject}.`
      )
    }
    if (lastBranchConflictKind) {
      throw new Error(
        `Branch "${branchName}" already exists ${lastBranchConflictKind === 'local' ? 'locally' : 'on a remote'}. Pick a different ${branchConflictSubject}.`
      )
    }
    throw new Error(
      `Could not find an available worktree name for "${sanitizedName}". Pick a different worktree name.`
    )
  }

  validateWorkspaceLineageParentBeforeCreate(
    store,
    args.parentWorkspace,
    worktreeWorkspaceKey(`${repo.id}::${worktreePath}`)
  )

  if (remoteTrackingRefresh) {
    await timing.time('refresh_base_ref', async () => {
      const result = await remoteTrackingRefresh.promise
      if (!result.ok && !remoteTrackingRefresh.hadLocalBaseRef) {
        // Why: only block create when the refresh failed AND there's no local base ref; an existing (possibly stale) ref keeps worktree add viable.
        throw new Error(
          `Could not refresh base ref "${baseBranch}" from "${remoteTrackingRefresh.base.remote}". Check your network and try again.`
        )

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

Pick a more unique worktree name.
Remove orphaned worktree directories left by failed deletes (git worktree prune, then rm the folders).
Widen the candidate suffix range or change the worktree path template.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import { existsSync } from 'fs'
for (const candidate of buildNameCandidates(sanitizedName)) {
  const p = resolveWorktreePath(repo, candidate)
  if (!existsSync(p)) return { ok: true, worktreePath: p }
}
return { ok: false, error: `All candidate paths for "${sanitizedName}" already exist.` }

Try / catch

catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('Could not find an available worktree name')) {
    promptForDifferentWorktreeName()
  } else { throw err }
}

Prevention

Choose distinctive worktree names.
Prune orphaned worktree dirs (git worktree prune) after failed deletes.
Expand the naming template suffix range.

When it happens

Trigger: Local create loop where existsSync(worktreePath) is true for every candidate and no branch/PR conflict was recorded. Reached at worktree-remote.ts:2207 (final fallback throw).

Common situations: Many worktrees with the same base name already on disk; orphaned directories from crashed/partial deletes; very long names truncating into collisions; suffix range too small for the number of existing worktrees.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0361f75471795484. Report an issue: GitHub.