What causes "failed to create audit log store at %q: %w" in tailscale/tailscale?

Create the parent directory and grant write permission.

failed to create audit log store at %q: %w

Error message

failed to create audit log store at %q: %w

What it means

Raised by newDefaultLogStore when the file-backed audit log store cannot be opened at the resolved path. It wraps the filesystem error and names the path.

Source

Thrown at ipn/auditlog/store.go:59

	}
}

// newDefaultLogStore returns a new [LogStore] for the current platform.
func newDefaultLogStore(logf logger.Logf) (LogStore, error) {
	path, err := storeFilePath.GetErr(DefaultStoreFilePath)
	if err != nil {
		// This indicates that the auditlog package was not omitted from the build
		// on a platform without a default store path and that [SetStoreFilePath]
		// was not called to set a platform-specific store path.
		//
		// This is not expected to happen, but if it does, let's log it
		// and use an in-memory store as a fallback.
		logf("[unexpected] failed to get audit log store path: %v", err)
		return NewLogStore(must.Get(store.New(logf, "mem:auditlog"))), nil
	}
	fs, err := store.New(logf, path)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create audit log store at %q: %w", path, err)
	}
	return NewLogStore(fs), nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 6e0912f979)

Solutions

Create the parent directory and grant write permission.
Remove a corrupt audit-log.json so it is recreated.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at ipn/auditlog/store.go:59 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of tailscale/tailscale@6e0912f979 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/243431f4671caf9e. Report an issue: GitHub.