What causes "Auto-reprime failed for corpus "${corpus.name}"" in thedotmack/claude-mem?

Fix the underlying cause of the failed prime — check prime() logs and the Claude backend availability

thedotmack/claude-mem · error · Error

Auto-reprime failed for corpus

Error message

Auto-reprime failed for corpus "${corpus.name}"

What it means

When a query fails because the corpus session expired, KnowledgeAgent.query() auto-reprimes and then re-checks the stored corpus; if the reprimed corpus still lacks a session_id, it throws this error. It indicates the recovery path itself failed — the prime() call did not produce (or persist) a fresh session_id.

Solutions

Fix the underlying cause of the failed prime — check prime() logs and the Claude backend availability
Verify the corpora directory is writable so corpusStore.write can persist the new session_id
Manually run prime(corpus) and confirm the stored JSON now has session_id, then retry the query
Check for concurrent processes rewriting the corpus file; serialize access or use file locking

Example fix

// before
const refreshedCorpus = this.corpusStore.read(corpus.name);
if (!refreshedCorpus || !refreshedCorpus.session_id) {
  throw new Error(`Auto-reprime failed for corpus "${corpus.name}"`);
}
// after
const refreshedCorpus = this.corpusStore.read(corpus.name);
if (!refreshedCorpus || !refreshedCorpus.session_id) {
  logger.error('WORKER', 'auto-reprime produced no session', { corpus: corpus.name });
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000)); // brief backoff
  await this.prime(corpus);
  // then re-read and re-check before giving up
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

const corpus = corpusStore.read(name);
const readyToQuery = !!corpus && typeof corpus.session_id === 'string' && corpus.session_id.length > 0;
if (!readyToQuery) {
  await agent.prime(corpus);
  // re-read and confirm session_id exists before querying
}

Try / catch

try {
  return await agent.query(corpus, question);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('Auto-reprime failed')) {
    // recovery path failed: check filesystem writability + backend health, then retry once manually
    await agent.prime(corpus);
    const fresh = corpusStore.read(corpus.name);
    if (fresh?.session_id) return agent.query(fresh, question);
    throw err;
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Ensure the corpora directory is writable by the worker process
Avoid concurrent writers to the same corpus file (lock or single-writer design)
Monitor prime() success rates to catch backend outages before queries pile up
Pin SDK versions so prime's session_id capture doesn't break silently

When it happens

Trigger: Auto-reprime path: prime() ran but returned without capturing a session_id (see error 155), the corpusStore.write() failed so the re-read has no session_id, or the re-read returned null because the corpus file was deleted between operations.

Common situations: Persistent backend problem during reprime (LLM down, quota exhausted); read-only filesystem preventing corpusStore.write from persisting the new session; concurrent process overwriting the corpus file mid-reprime; SDK response-shape change breaking prime's session capture.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@d8bc9755e7 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02f97f10da8e49f9. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/services/worker/knowledge/KnowledgeAgent.ts:109

      if (result.session_id !== corpus.session_id) {
        corpus.session_id = result.session_id;
        this.corpusStore.write(corpus);
      }
      return result;
    } catch (error) {
      if (!this.isSessionResumeError(error)) {
        if (error instanceof Error) {
          logger.error('WORKER', `Query failed for corpus "${corpus.name}"`, {}, error);
        } else {
          logger.error('WORKER', `Query failed for corpus "${corpus.name}" (non-Error thrown)`, { thrownValue: String(error) });
        }
        throw error;
      }
      logger.info('WORKER', `Session expired for corpus "${corpus.name}", auto-repriming...`);
      await this.prime(corpus);
      const refreshedCorpus = this.corpusStore.read(corpus.name);
      if (!refreshedCorpus || !refreshedCorpus.session_id) {
        throw new Error(`Auto-reprime failed for corpus "${corpus.name}"`);
      }
      const result = await this.executeQuery(refreshedCorpus, question);
      if (result.session_id !== refreshedCorpus.session_id) {
        refreshedCorpus.session_id = result.session_id;
        this.corpusStore.write(refreshedCorpus);
      }
      return result;
    }
  }

  async reprime(corpus: CorpusFile): Promise<string> {
    corpus.session_id = null;  
    return this.prime(corpus);
  }

  private isSessionResumeError(error: unknown): boolean {
    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
    return /session|resume|expired|invalid.*session|not found/i.test(message);

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