windmill-labs/windmill · error

The HEAD commit hash was not found for repo `{}`

Error message

The HEAD commit hash was not found for repo `{}`

What it means

The single ls-remote line must contain the commit hash as its first whitespace-separated token. If the line exists but has no leading hash field, this error names the (sanitized) repo whose HEAD hash could not be extracted.

Source

Thrown at backend/windmill-worker/src/ansible_executor.rs:1186

    let output = git_cmd.stderr(Stdio::piped()).output().await?;

    if !output.status.success() {
        let stderr = String::from_utf8(output.stderr)?;
        return Err(anyhow!("Error getting git repo commit hash: {stderr}"));
    }

    let stdout = String::from_utf8(output.stdout)?;

    let lines: Vec<&str> = stdout.lines().collect();

    if lines.len() != 1 {
        return Err(anyhow!("Unexpected output format for git ls-remote",));
    }

    Ok(lines
        .first()
        .ok_or(anyhow!(
            "The HEAD commit hash was not found for repo `{}`",
            sanitize_git_url(&repo.url)
        ))?
        .split_whitespace()
        .next()
        .map(|s| s.to_string())
        .ok_or(anyhow!("Unexpected output format for git ls-remote"))?)
}

pub async fn get_git_repos_lock(
    repos: &Vec<GitRepo>,
    job_dir: &str,
    job_id: &Uuid,
    worker_name: &str,
    conn: &Connection,
    mem_peak: &mut i32,
    canceled_by: &mut Option<CanceledBy>,
    w_id: &str,

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Inspect the raw `git ls-remote <url> HEAD` output from the worker.
2. Point the resource at the canonical repository URL (bypass proxies/shims).
3. Update git on the worker if the remote protocol is legacy.
4. Pin an explicit commit hash in the dependency instead of resolving HEAD.

line=$(git ls-remote "$REPO_URL" HEAD | head -n1)
echo "$line" | awk '{exit ($1 ~ /^[0-9a-f]{40}$/) ? 0 : 1}' && echo OK || echo 'no valid hash in output'

fn is_commit_hash(s: &str) -> bool { !s.is_empty() && s.chars().all(|c| c.is_ascii_hexdigit()) && s.len() >= 7 }

When it happens

Trigger: ls-remote returns exactly one line whose first token is empty/whitespace-only — practically a malformed or adversarial remote response for the configured repo URL.

Common situations: Proxied or shimmed git remotes returning a degenerate line; corrupted git configuration altering output; extremely old/unusual git servers.

Related errors

• Unexpected output format for git ls-remote
• You can only create forks within a git repo. Forks are track
• Could not get git branch name
• --from-branch is for converting a *different* working branch
• Refusing to rename your current branch \`${currentBranch}\`

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dd7b3e973de3ab92. Report an issue: GitHub.