vxcontrol/pentagi · error

failed to create flow screenshot: %w

Error message

failed to create flow screenshot: %w

What it means

Final step of newFlowProviderWorkers: the screenshot worker is created via cnts.sc.NewFlowScreenshot(ctx, flowID, pub). Failure wrapped with this message aborts flow startup — screenshots captured by browser tooling could not be wired to persistent storage for this flow.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/controller/flow.go:1199

	tlw, err := cnts.tlc.NewFlowTermLog(ctx, flowID, pub)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow term log: %w", err)
	}

	vslw, err := cnts.vslc.NewFlowVectorStoreLog(ctx, flowID, pub)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow vector store log: %w", err)
	}

	tclw, err := cnts.tclc.NewFlowToolCallLog(ctx, flowID, pub)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow tool call log: %w", err)
	}

	sw, err := cnts.sc.NewFlowScreenshot(ctx, flowID, pub)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow screenshot: %w", err)
	}

	return &flowProviderWorkers{
		mlw:  mlw,
		alw:  alw,
		slw:  slw,
		tlw:  tlw,
		vslw: vslw,
		tclw: tclw,
		sw:   sw,
	}, nil
}

func getFlowProviderWorkers(
	ctx context.Context,
	flowID int64,
	cnts *flowProviderControllers,
) (*flowProviderWorkers, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped error and backend logs for the storage/DB failure
2. Verify the screenshot storage backend configuration and that its table/bucket exists
3. Confirm DB connectivity and retry flow creation
4. Ensure the flow row exists (rule out concurrent deletion)

Example fix

// before: screenshot storage path not validated at startup
sw, err := cnts.sc.NewFlowScreenshot(ctx, flowID, pub)
if err != nil { return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow screenshot: %w", err) }
// after: pre-validate storage dir/config before creating workers
if err := ensureScreenshotStorage(ctx, cfg); err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("screenshot storage unavailable: %w", err)
}
sw, err = cnts.sc.NewFlowScreenshot(ctx, flowID, pub)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow screenshot (flow=%d): %w", flowID, err)
}

if fi, err := os.Stat(cfg.ScreenshotStoragePath); err != nil || !fi.IsDir() {
    return errors.New("screenshot storage path missing or not a directory")
}

func hasValidFlowID(flowID int64) bool { return flowID > 0 }

sw, err := cnts.sc.NewFlowScreenshot(ctx, flowID, pub)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create flow screenshot (flow=%d): %w", flowID, err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: NewFlowScreenshot fails during flow startup — DB error initializing the screenshot storage record for the flow, invalid flowID, or context cancellation after all earlier worker steps.

Common situations: DB outage or pool exhaustion at flow creation; screenshot storage table/blob path misconfigured or missing; flow deleted concurrently; ctx deadline exceeded due to slow earlier steps.

Related errors

• failed to create flow agent log: %w
• failed to create flow msg log: %w
• failed to create flow search log: %w
• failed to create flow term log: %w
• failed to create flow vector store log: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c72bde31f4bf5a10. Report an issue: GitHub.