What causes "failed to delete destination for overwrite: %w" in vxcontrol/pentagi?

Inspect the wrapped error for the root DB cause (constraint name, connection error)

failed to delete destination for overwrite

Error message

failed to delete destination for overwrite: %w

What it means

moveFileResource deletes an existing destination file when overwriting (force=true) after conflict checks pass. This error wraps the underlying GORM/DB error from tx.Delete, meaning the overwrite could not be performed because the destination row failed to delete. The transaction returns with the error so it is rolled back.

Solutions

Inspect the wrapped error for the root DB cause (constraint name, connection error)
Check for foreign keys referencing user_resources and ensure ON DELETE CASCADE
Retry the move after the transient DB issue resolves; conflicts on rows are serialized by the transaction

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if dest, ok := findResourceByPath(dst); ok && !dest.IsDir && force {
    // consider warning user about destructive overwrite
}

Try / catch

err := svc.MoveResource(ctx, uid, src, dst, true)
var wrapped error
if errors.As(err, &wrapped) && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to delete destination") {
    log.Printf("overwrite delete failed: %v", err) // inspect cause, retry
}

Prevention

Add ON DELETE CASCADE on tables referencing user_resources
Monitor DB connectivity for mid-transaction drops
Avoid concurrent writes to the same resource subtree

When it happens

Trigger: Moving a file onto an existing file with force=true while the DB delete of the destination row fails — e.g. foreign-key constraint on the destination resource, DB connection drop, or lock contention on the row.

Common situations: Concurrent flows referencing the destination resource row; database connectivity issues mid-transaction; missing ON DELETE CASCADE on tables referencing user_resources.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aee7a60d9bbf2676. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at backend/pkg/server/services/resources.go:911

	} else {
		createdDirs, deletedDirs, orphanHashes, err := ensureResourceDirs(tx, uid, resources.ParentDir(targetPath), force)
		if err != nil {
			return result, err
		}
		result.Added = append(result.Added, convertResources(createdDirs)...)
		result.DeletedBefore = append(result.DeletedBefore, convertResources(deletedDirs)...)
		result.OrphanHashes = append(result.OrphanHashes, orphanHashes...)
	}

	if exists {
		if dest.IsDir {
			return result, errResourceConflict
		}
		if !force {
			return result, errResourceConflict
		}
		if err := tx.Delete(&dest).Error; err != nil {
			return result, fmt.Errorf("failed to delete destination for overwrite: %w", err)
		}
		result.DeletedBefore = append(result.DeletedBefore, convertResource(dest))
		if dest.Hash != "" {
			result.OrphanHashes = append(result.OrphanHashes, dest.Hash)
		}
	}

	updated, err := updateMovedResource(tx, src, targetPath, time.Now())
	if err != nil {
		return result, err
	}
	result.Updated = append(result.Updated, convertResource(updated))
	return result, nil
}

func (s *ResourceService) moveDirResource(
	tx *gorm.DB,
	uid uint64,

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)