cloud sync identity unavailable; refusing an unreplicated de

Error message

cloud sync identity unavailable; refusing an unreplicated delete

What it means

HTTP 503 returned by the DataRoutes delete handler when cloud sync IS configured but has no deviceId yet — the device identity that tags replicated mutations has not been established. Deleting a local-origin row without that identity would emit a delete other replicas could not attribute, so the worker refuses and asks the client to retry later.

Source

Thrown at src/services/worker/http/routes/DataRoutes.ts:361

      this.badRequest(res, 'id must be a positive canonical decimal string');
      return;
    }

    const store = this.dbManager.getSessionStore();
    const row = store.db.prepare(`
      SELECT CAST(id AS TEXT) AS id FROM ${table}
      WHERE id = ? AND origin_device_id IS NULL
    `).get(originLocalId) as { id: string } | undefined;
    if (!row) {
      this.notFound(res, `${kind} #${originLocalId} not found`);
      return;
    }

    const cloudSync = this.dbManager.getCloudSync();
    let entityRev: string | null = null;
    if (cloudSync?.isConfigured()) {
      if (!cloudSync.status().deviceId) {
        res.status(503).json({ error: 'cloud sync identity unavailable; refusing an unreplicated delete' });
        return;
      }
      entityRev = cloudSync.queueDelete(kind, originLocalId);
    } else {
      // A row with an acknowledged entity head must never be silently deleted
      // while its sync identity is unavailable: that would strand replicas.
      const acknowledged = store.db.prepare(`
        SELECT 1 AS found FROM sync_entity_heads
        WHERE kind = ? AND origin_local_id = ? LIMIT 1
      `).get(kind, originLocalId) as { found: number } | undefined;
      if (acknowledged) {
        res.status(503).json({ error: 'cloud sync unavailable; refusing an unreplicated delete' });
        return;
      }
      store.db.prepare(
        `DELETE FROM ${table} WHERE id = ? AND origin_device_id IS NULL`
      ).run(originLocalId);
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 8bc631a71a)

Solutions

Retry the delete after the first successful sync run establishes the deviceId
Check sync status (cloudSync.status()) — if deviceId stays null, inspect sync credentials/connectivity
If sync was enabled by mistake, disable cloud sync so the delete takes the local-only path

Example fix

// before
await fetch(`${base}/api/data/session/${id}`, { method: 'DELETE' }); // 503 identity unavailable

// after
await waitForSyncIdentity(); // poll status endpoint until deviceId present
await fetch(`${base}/api/data/session/${id}`, { method: 'DELETE' });

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

async function syncIdentityReady(base: string): Promise<boolean> {
  // before deleting replicated data, confirm the device identity exists
  const s = await (await fetch(`${base}/api/settings`)).json();
  return Boolean(s.cloudSync?.deviceId);
}

Type guard

function isSyncIdentityUnavailable(body: unknown, status: number): boolean {
  return status === 503 && typeof body === 'object' && body !== null &&
    String((body as { error?: string }).error).includes('identity unavailable');
}

Try / catch

for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  const res = await del(`${base}/api/data/${kind}/${id}`);
  if (res.status !== 503) return handle(res);
  await sleep(2000); // first sync exchange provisions deviceId
}
throw new Error('sync identity never became available');

Prevention

After enabling cloud sync, wait for the first successful sync before issuing deletes
Monitor cloudSync.status().deviceId and alert when it stays null with sync configured
Automate testing of the delete path only on post-first-sync states

When it happens

Trigger: DELETE on a local-origin session/observation immediately after configuring cloud sync, before the first successful sync exchange provisions the device identity; or after an identity reset where status().deviceId is null again.

Common situations: Fresh installs where sync credentials were entered but the initial handshake failed (network down, bad endpoint); race between the settings API enabling sync and the sync engine registering; wiping local identity state under ~/.claude-mem.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@8bc631a71a (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/71f577c2f556a7b4. Report an issue: GitHub.