vxcontrol/pentagi · error

unsupported subtask status: %s

Error message

unsupported subtask status: %s

What it means

SetStatus rejects status values it does not support setting: the switch handles only the in-progress/interrupting/finished/failed family, and the default branch returns this error. The comment notes that Created cannot be set through this call — it is a guard against invalid lifecycle transitions from the worker API.

Source

Thrown at backend/pkg/controller/subtask.go:230

	stw.mx.Lock()
	defer stw.mx.Unlock()

	switch status {
	case database.SubtaskStatusRunning:
		stw.completed = false
		stw.waiting = false
		err = stw.updater.SetStatus(ctx, database.TaskStatusRunning)
	case database.SubtaskStatusWaiting:
		stw.completed = false
		stw.waiting = true
		err = stw.updater.SetStatus(ctx, database.TaskStatusWaiting)
	case database.SubtaskStatusFinished, database.SubtaskStatusFailed:
		stw.completed = true
		stw.waiting = false
		// statuses Finished and Failed will be produced by stack from Run function call
	default:
		// status Created is not possible to set by this call
		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported subtask status: %s", status)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to set task status in back propagation: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

func (stw *subtaskWorker) GetResult(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
	subtask, err := stw.subtaskCtx.DB.GetSubtask(ctx, stw.subtaskCtx.SubtaskID)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}

	return subtask.Result, nil
}

func (stw *subtaskWorker) SetResult(ctx context.Context, result string) error {

View on GitHub (pinned to ea665308ba)

Solutions

1. Only pass lifecycle statuses the API supports (e.g. processing, interrupting, finished, failed); never SubtaskStatusCreated.
2. To reset a subtask, use the load/recovery path (LoadSubtaskWorker) instead of SetStatus.
3. If a new status was added to database.SubtaskStatus*, extend the switch in SetStatus to handle it.
4. Validate the status argument against a whitelist before calling SetStatus in orchestration code.

Example fix

// before
err := stw.SetStatus(ctx, database.SubtaskStatusCreated) // unsupported
// after
// reset via the recovery path instead of SetStatus:
worker, err := controller.LoadSubtaskWorker(ctx, taskCtx, subtask) // handles created/reset states

// validate the desired status before calling SetStatus
func canSetStatus(s database.SubtaskStatus) bool {
    switch s {
    case database.SubtaskStatusProcessed, database.SubtaskStatusProcessing,
        database.SubtaskStatusInterrupting, database.SubtaskStatusFinished,
        database.SubtaskStatusFailed:
        return true
    }
    return false // SubtaskStatusCreated is NOT settable here
}

func IsUnsupportedStatusError(err error) bool {
    return strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unsupported subtask status")
}

if !canSetStatus(desired) {
    return fmt.Errorf("status %q cannot be set via SetStatus; use the load/recovery path", desired)
}
if err := stw.SetStatus(ctx, desired); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("set subtask status: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling SetStatus with database.SubtaskStatusCreated or any non-lifecycle status value — e.g. trying to 'reset' a subtask via SetStatus instead of the load path, or passing an invalid/typo'd status constant.

Common situations: Custom automation trying to re-run a subtask by resetting its status to created; refactoring introduced a new status constant not added to the switch; direct API misuse attempting terminal->created transitions.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• subtask %d has created yet: %w
• unexpected subtask status: %s
• flow %d has status %s: loading aborted: %w
• failed to set flow %d status: %w
• failed to update subtask %d status to created: %w

AI-assisted analysis of vxcontrol/pentagi@ea665308ba (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/07b548909ef96b38. Report an issue: GitHub.