stablyai/orca · warning · Error

Refusing to remove non-Orca command at ${status.commandPath}

Error message

Refusing to remove non-Orca command at ${status.commandPath}.

What it means

Thrown by WslCliInstaller.remove() when status.state is 'conflict' — a non-Orca command exists at the target path inside the WSL distro. Orca refuses to delete a command it didn't create. Note: the WSL remove() does not have a 'stale' guard like the host installer; only conflict and not_installed are handled.

Source

Thrown at src/main/cli/wsl-cli-installer.ts:292

  async remove(): Promise<CliInstallStatus> {
    const status = await this.getStatus()
    if (!status.supported || !status.commandPath) {
      return status
    }
    const legacyCommandPath = `${getPosixDirname(status.commandPath)}/${LEGACY_WSL_COMMAND_NAME}`
    if (status.state === 'not_installed') {
      // Why: a managed legacy `orca` left behind would later be re-adopted by
      // startup reconciliation as opt-in proof, silently undoing this removal.
      await this.run(
        this.distro as string,
        ['set -euo pipefail', buildManagedLegacyRemoveCommand(quoteShell(legacyCommandPath))].join(
          '\n'
        )
      )
      return status
    }
    if (status.state === 'conflict') {
      throw new Error(`Refusing to remove non-Orca command at ${status.commandPath}.`)
    }

    await this.run(
      this.distro as string,
      buildSafeRemoveCommand(status.commandPath, legacyCommandPath)
    )
    return this.getStatus()
  }

  private async resolveReadyState(): Promise<
    | { status: CliInstallStatus }
    | {
        distro: string
        commandPath: string
        bridgePath: string
        launcherPath: string
        pathConfigured: boolean
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

  1. Inspect the file inside WSL: 'wsl -d <distro> -- ls -la <commandPath>'.
  2. If it's not needed, manually remove it inside WSL: 'wsl -d <distro> -- rm <commandPath>'.
  3. If it's a different tool you need, no action needed — Orca correctly refused.
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const status = await wslInstaller.getStatus()
if (status.state === 'conflict') {
  showInfo('The WSL command is not owned by Orca and will not be removed.')
  return
}

Try / catch

try {
  await wslInstaller.remove()
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error && error.message.includes('Refusing to remove non-Orca command')) {
    // Safe no-op; foreign command are never removed
  } else { throw error }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling remove() on WSL CLI when the status probe finds a non-Orca-managed command at commandPath. buildSafeRemoveCommand would refuse to remove an unowned file.

Common situations: Same as install conflict: another tool named 'orca' in WSL. A previous Orca WSL install was partially cleaned up. Manual file replacement in the WSL bin directory.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5fee7112630fafd8. Report an issue: GitHub.