What causes "failed to get task title: %w" in vxcontrol/pentagi?

Check the wrapped provider error in logs

failed to get task title

Error message

failed to get task title: %w

What it means

NewTaskWorker first asks the LLM provider to generate a task title from the user's input via GetTaskTitle. This error wraps a failure of that provider call, so the task is never created in the DB. It happens synchronously during CreateTask, so it surfaces directly to the API caller.

Solutions

Check the wrapped provider error in logs
Validate provider configuration (API key, model, base URL) before creating flows
Retry task creation; nothing was persisted
Fall back to a default/truncated title if title generation is non-critical

Example fix

// before
title, err := flowCtx.Provider.GetTaskTitle(ctx, input)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get task title: %w", err)
}
// after
title, err := flowCtx.Provider.GetTaskTitle(ctx, input)
if err != nil {
    log.Warn("title generation failed, using fallback", "err", err)
    title = truncate(input, 120)
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if input == "" { return fmt.Errorf("empty task input") }
if flowCtx.Provider == nil { return fmt.Errorf("no provider configured for flow") }

Try / catch

title, err := flowCtx.Provider.GetTaskTitle(ctx, input)
if err != nil {
    if isRateLimit(err) { return nil, retryAfterBackoff(err) }
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get task title: %w", err)
}

Prevention

Validate provider config (key, model) before exposing task creation
Keep input within the model's context window
Pre-flight the provider with a cheap test call at startup

When it happens

Trigger: Provider unreachable, invalid/expired API key, quota exhausted, model returning invalid response, or ctx cancelled during the title generation call.

Common situations: No LLM provider configured for the flow; wrong API key after rotating credentials; provider outage; input too long for the model's context window.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b906e12e03b1552. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at backend/pkg/controller/task.go:62

	updater   FlowUpdater
	completed bool
	waiting   bool
}

func NewTaskWorker(
	ctx context.Context,
	flowCtx *FlowContext,
	input string,
	updater FlowUpdater,
) (TaskWorker, error) {
	ctx, span := obs.Observer.NewSpan(ctx, obs.SpanKindInternal, "controller.NewTaskWorker")
	defer span.End()

	ctx = tools.PutAgentContext(ctx, database.MsgchainTypePrimaryAgent)

	title, err := flowCtx.Provider.GetTaskTitle(ctx, input)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get task title: %w", err)
	}

	task, err := flowCtx.DB.CreateTask(ctx, database.CreateTaskParams{
		Status: database.TaskStatusCreated,
		Title:  title,
		Input:  input,
		FlowID: flowCtx.FlowID,
	})
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create task in DB: %w", err)
	}

	flowCtx.Publisher.TaskCreated(ctx, task, []database.Subtask{})

	taskCtx := &TaskContext{
		FlowContext: *flowCtx,
		TaskID:      task.ID,
		TaskTitle:   title,

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)