xai-org/grok-build · error

clear failed

Error message

clear failed

What it means

run_clear deletes memory files for each ClearTarget and collects per-target errors. If every target's clear closure returned an error (nothing cleared and errors non-empty), it prints the details to stderr and returns the generic anyhow error "clear failed". The library throws it as a summary sentinel: the specifics (label + underlying error per target) are printed above it, not embedded in the error value.

Source

Thrown at crates/codegen/xai-grok-pager/src/memory_cmd.rs:128

            Err(e) => {
                errors.push(format!("{}: {e}", t.label));
            }
        }
    }

    if cleared && errors.is_empty() {
        println!("Memory cleared.");
    } else if cleared {
        println!("Memory partially cleared. Errors:");
        for e in &errors {
            eprintln!("  {e}");
        }
    } else if !errors.is_empty() {
        eprintln!("Failed to clear memory:");
        for e in &errors {
            eprintln!("  {e}");
        }
        return Err(anyhow::anyhow!("clear failed"));
    }

    Ok(())
}

View on GitHub (pinned to bc7f02eddd)

Solutions

1. Check stderr directly above the error: each failing target prints "label: <underlying error>"; fix the cause listed there.
2. Fix file permissions on the memory directory/files (chown/chmod) so the clear closures can delete them.
3. Close other processes using the memory store and retry.
4. Run with the specific scope/target so the failure is isolated, and verify disk space/IO health.

fn clearable(t: &ClearTarget) -> bool {
    t.path.exists() && std::fs::metadata(&t.path).map(|m| !m.permissions().readonly()).unwrap_or(false)
}
// skip or warn on targets that exist but aren't writable before calling the clear command

// the error is a generic summary; capture stderr for the real causes
match memory_clear_run(...) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string() == "clear failed" => {
        eprintln!("all memory targets failed to clear; see per-target errors above");
        // fall back to manual cleanup: delete the listed memory files yourself
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
    Ok(()) => {}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the memory clear command where at least one target exists but every target's (t.clear)(storage) call fails — e.g. storage backends erroring, permission denied on memory files, lock/IO failures — with zero targets succeeding.

Common situations: Read-only filesystem or files owned by another user; corrupted memory storage; another process holding the memory store; running clear in an environment (container/CI) without write access to the memory directory.

Related errors

• unmount {}: {err}
• Not a directory: {path}
• bind {}: {e}
• Failed to create agent config: {e}
• Failed to set working directory to {:?}: {}

AI-assisted analysis of xai-org/grok-build@bc7f02eddd (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/30d7ea62b5080026. Report an issue: GitHub.