wavetermdev/waveterm · error

error getting object: %w

Error message

error getting object: %w

What it means

GetObject wraps failures from wstore.DBGetORef with 'error getting object: %w'. The oref parsed fine but no object of the given type/oid exists in wstore (or the DB read failed). Most commonly the wrapped error is a 'key not found' from the store.

Source

Thrown at pkg/service/objectservice/objectservice.go:48

}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObject_Meta() tsgenmeta.MethodMeta {
	return tsgenmeta.MethodMeta{
		Desc:     "get wave object by oref",
		ArgNames: []string{"oref"},
	}
}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObject(orefStr string) (waveobj.WaveObj, error) {
	oref, err := parseORef(orefStr)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	ctx, cancelFn := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), DefaultTimeout)
	defer cancelFn()
	obj, err := wstore.DBGetORef(ctx, *oref)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting object: %w", err)
	}
	return obj, nil
}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObjects_Meta() tsgenmeta.MethodMeta {
	return tsgenmeta.MethodMeta{
		ArgNames:   []string{"orefs"},
		ReturnDesc: "objects",
	}
}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObjects(orefStrArr []string) ([]waveobj.WaveObj, error) {
	ctx, cancelFn := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), DefaultTimeout)
	defer cancelFn()

	var orefArr []waveobj.ORef
	for _, orefStr := range orefStrArr {
		orefObj, err := parseORef(orefStr)

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped error: 'key not found' means the object is gone — refresh from the live object list
2. Verify the OType prefix matches the actual object type stored
3. Re-resolve the OID from the current tab/window state instead of a cached value

Example fix

// before
obj, err := svc.GetObject(ctx, cachedOref)
// after
if _, err := svc.GetObject(ctx, cachedOref); err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "key not found") {
    cachedOref = resolveCurrentOref(ctx) // refresh from live state
}

if !strings.Contains(orefStr, ":") { return fmt.Errorf("malformed oref") }

obj, err := svc.GetObject(ctx, orefStr)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "key not found") { /* stale ref; refresh */ }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ObjectService.GetObject with an oref whose OID was deleted (closed block/tab), whose type prefix is wrong for the stored object, or on DB read failure.

Common situations: Referencing a block after the tab containing it was closed; stale orefs cached in the frontend across restarts; mixing up block vs. tab OTypes.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• error getting tab: %w
• error getting client data: %w
• error updating %q meta: %w
• error getting client: %v
• failed to get job: %w

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7203562f4e2970b2. Report an issue: GitHub.