vxcontrol/pentagi · critical

container runtime is not operational

Error message

container runtime is not operational

What it means

After the Docker check succeeds, ExecCommand refuses to run if IsContainerRunning reports the terminal container is not running. The literal message "container runtime is not operational" means the sandbox for this flow is stopped/exited, so no command can be executed.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/tools/terminal.go:209

	ctx context.Context,
	cwd, command string,
	detach bool,
	timeout time.Duration,
) (string, error) {
	containerName := PrimaryTerminalName(t.tenantPrefix, t.flowID)

	cmd := []string{
		"sh",
		"-c",
		command,
	}

	isRunning, err := t.dockerClient.IsContainerRunning(ctx, t.containerLID)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("runtime verification failed: %w", err)
	}
	if !isRunning {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("container runtime is not operational")
	}

	if cwd == "" {
		cwd = docker.WorkFolderPathInContainer
	}

	// Format command with working directory and ANSI styling
	styledCommand := fmt.Sprintf("%s $ %s%s%s%s", cwd, ansiColorInputCmd, command, ansiColorReset, ansiLineTerminator)
	_, err = t.tlp.PutMsg(ctx, database.TermlogTypeStdin, styledCommand, t.containerID, t.taskID, t.subtaskID)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to put terminal log (stdin): %w", err)
	}

	timeout = t.normalizeExecTimeout(timeout)

	createResp, err := t.dockerClient.ContainerExecCreate(ctx, containerName, client.ExecCreateOptions{
		Cmd:          cmd,
		AttachStdout: true,

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Start the container again: docker start <container> (or recreate it via the platform's flow/terminal provisioning)
2. Check why it exited: docker inspect -f '{{.State.ExitCode}} {{.State.Error}}' <container> and container logs
3. If the container was removed, re-create the terminal for the flow and retry the command

Example fix

// before
out, err := term.ExecCommand(ctx, cwd, cmd, false, timeout) // container runtime is not operational
// after
if running, _ := docker.IsContainerRunning(ctx, lid); !running {
    if err := term.EnsureRunning(ctx); err != nil { return err } // restart/recreate sandbox
}
out, err := term.ExecCommand(ctx, cwd, cmd, false, timeout)

running, err := dockerClient.IsContainerRunning(ctx, containerLID)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot verify container: %w", err)
}
if !running {
    return fmt.Errorf("terminal container %s is stopped; start or recreate it before executing", containerLID)
}

out, err := term.ExecCommand(ctx, cwd, cmd, false, timeout)
if err != nil && err.Error() == "container runtime is not operational" {
    if rerr := term.EnsureRunning(ctx); rerr != nil { // restart/recreate fallback
        return fmt.Errorf("sandbox restart failed: %w", rerr)
    }
    out, err = term.ExecCommand(ctx, cwd, cmd, false, timeout)
}

When it happens

Trigger: ExecCommand called when the flow's terminal container has exited — it crashed, was stopped manually, OOM-killed, finished its entrypoint, or was removed by a reaper while the flow still references it.

Common situations: Long-running flow whose sandbox exited between steps; container stopped via docker stop during debugging; image entrypoint exiting immediately after creation; resource limits (OOM) killing the container mid-flow.

Related errors

• runtime verification failed: %w
• failed to create exec process: %w
• failed to read current content of %s before editing: %w
• failed to attach file-check exec: %w
• failed to read file-check output: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b3aa7e5c08cb735d. Report an issue: GitHub.