thedotmack/claude-mem · warning

git ls-files failed, falling back to directory walk

Error message

git ls-files failed, falling back to directory walk

What it means

getTrackedFolders runs `git ls-files` to enumerate tracked folders for claude-md commands. If the git command fails (not a repo, git missing, permission errors), it logs the warning 'git ls-files failed, falling back to directory walk' and rebuilds the folder list via walkDirectoriesWithIgnore instead. This is a non-fatal degradation warning, not a thrown error.

Solutions

1. Initialize or clone a git repo in the working directory (git init / git clone) so ls-files works
2. Install git or fix PATH so the git binary is reachable
3. For 'dubious ownership' errors run: git config --global --add safe.directory <path>
4. Accept the fallback — it still returns folders via directory walk honoring ignore files — but expect slower/less accurate results than git-tracked enumeration

Example fix

// before (in a non-repo dir)
getTrackedFolders('/tmp/project'); // warns, walks directories
// after
execSync('git init', { cwd: '/tmp/project' });
getTrackedFolders('/tmp/project'); // uses git ls-files

import { execSync } from 'child_process';
import { existsSync } from 'fs';
if (!existsSync(`${workingDir}/.git`)) console.warn('Not a git repo; folder discovery will use the slow directory-walk fallback');

try {
  execSync('git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree', { cwd: workingDir, stdio: 'ignore' });
} catch {
  // not a repo or git missing: rely on walkDirectoriesWithIgnore fallback
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running claude-md folder discovery in a directory that is not a git work tree, with git not installed/on PATH, or when git exits non-zero (permissions, dubious ownership, broken .git).

Common situations: Running the tool in a plain folder or tarball extract without .git; containers/minimal images lacking git; git's 'dubious ownership' safe.directory check failing in Docker; symlinked or read-only working directories.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

• API key prompt cancelled — falling back to Claude provider.
• API key prompt cancelled — leaving existing configuration…
• Chroma query failed
• CLAUDE_CODE_PATH is set to
• CLAUDE_CODE_PATH is set to

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@d8bc9755e7 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1194290b51c6eb2b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/claude-md-commands.ts:74

    (obs.subtitle?.length || 0) +
    (obs.narrative?.length || 0) +
    (obs.facts?.length || 0);
  return Math.ceil(size / 4);
}

function getTrackedFolders(workingDir: string): Set<string> {
  const folders = new Set<string>();

  let output: string;
  try {
    output = execSync('git ls-files', {
      cwd: workingDir,
      encoding: 'utf-8',
      maxBuffer: 50 * 1024 * 1024
    });
  } catch (error) {
    const errorMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
    logger.warn('CLAUDE_MD', 'git ls-files failed, falling back to directory walk', { error: errorMessage });
    walkDirectoriesWithIgnore(workingDir, folders);
    return folders;
  }

  const files = output.trim().split('\n').filter(f => f);

  for (const file of files) {
    const absPath = path.join(workingDir, file);
    let dir = path.dirname(absPath);

    while (dir.length > workingDir.length && dir.startsWith(workingDir)) {
      folders.add(dir);
      dir = path.dirname(dir);
    }
  }

  return folders;
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d8bc9755e7)