wavetermdev/waveterm · error

failed to create stdin pipe: %w

Error message

failed to create stdin pipe: %w

What it means

runBuilderApp calls cmd.StdinPipe() to get a writable pipe for feeding the builder subprocess, and the exec package failed. As with the other pipes, this happens only if Start() already ran or the OS could not allocate a pipe (fd exhaustion).

Source

Thrown at pkg/buildercontroller/buildercontroller.go:350

	}

	for key, value := range builderEnv {
		cmd.Env = append(cmd.Env, key+"="+value)
	}

	stdoutPipe, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create stdout pipe: %w", err)
	}

	stderrPipe, err := cmd.StderrPipe()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create stderr pipe: %w", err)
	}

	stdinPipe, err := cmd.StdinPipe()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create stdin pipe: %w", err)
	}

	portChan := make(chan int, 1)
	portFound := false

	bc.outputBuffer.SetLineCallback(func(line string) {
		if !portFound {
			if port := build.ParseTsunamiPort(line); port > 0 {
				portFound = true
				portChan <- port
			}
		}
		bc.publishOutputLine(line, false)
	})

	err = cmd.Start()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to start process: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Order pipe creation (stdout, stderr, stdin) before cmd.Start()
2. Check wrapped error for EMFILE/ENFILE and address fd leaks or ulimits
3. Retry the build after resources are released

process, err := bc.runBuilderApp(ctx, ...)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to create stdin pipe") {
        return fmt.Errorf("builder pipe setup failed: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: cmd.StdinPipe() returns non-nil err — Cmd already started, or OS pipe allocation failure.

Common situations: fd exhaustion on busy hosts; accidental double invocation of Start(); running inside containers with very low fd limits.

Related errors

• failed to create stdout pipe: %w
• failed to create stderr pipe: %w
• failed to start process: %w
• process died before emitting port
• timeout waiting for port

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/738557c2411fb5de. Report an issue: GitHub.