xai-org/grok-build · error

working tree is not clean; commit or discard changes before

Error message

working tree is not clean; commit or discard changes before syncing the base

What it means

Sync-base checks `git status --porcelain` and refuses to run when the working tree is dirty, because merging a new base on top of uncommitted changes risks conflicts and data loss. This guard runs after the branch and merge-state checks.

Source

Thrown at crates/codegen/xai-grok-workspace/src/session/git.rs:3041

        )
    }
    if abort {
        let (_ok, out) = git_cli_raw_mut(git_root, &["merge", "--abort"]).await?;
        anyhow::ensure!(
            !merge_in_progress(git_root).await?,
            "merge --abort failed: {out}"
        );
        return Ok(GitSyncBaseResult {
            outcome: GitSyncBaseOutcome::Aborted,
        });
    }
    ensure_on_branch(git_root, expected_branch).await?;
    anyhow::ensure!(
        !merge_in_progress(git_root).await?,
        "a merge is already in progress; resolve it or call again with abort"
    );
    let dirty = git_cli(git_root, &["status", "--porcelain"]).await?;
    anyhow::ensure!(
        dirty.is_empty(),
        "working tree is not clean; commit or discard changes before syncing the base"
    );
    let base = base_ref.unwrap_or("HEAD");
    let (fetched, fetch_out) = git_cli_raw_mut(git_root, &["fetch", "origin", base]).await?;
    anyhow::ensure!(fetched, "fetch of base ref '{base}' failed: {fetch_out}");
    if git_cli_raw(
        git_root,
        &["merge-base", "--is-ancestor", "FETCH_HEAD", "HEAD"],
    )
    .await?
    .0
    {
        return Ok(GitSyncBaseResult {
            outcome: GitSyncBaseOutcome::UpToDate,
        });
    }
    let (merged, merge_out) =

View on GitHub (pinned to bc7f02eddd)

Solutions

1. Commit the changes (`git add -A && git commit`) then retry sync-base
2. Discard unneeded changes with `git checkout -- .` / `git clean -fd` if they are disposable
3. Stash with `git stash -u`, run sync-base, then `git stash pop`
4. Check `git status --porcelain` before invoking to confirm cleanliness

Example fix

// before
sync_base(&git_root, req) // dirty tree
// after
git_cli(&git_root, &["add", "-A"]).await?;
git_cli(&git_root, &["commit", "-m", "wip"]).await?;
sync_base(&git_root, req)

let out = Command::new("git").args(["status","--porcelain"]).current_dir(git_root).output()?;
if !out.stdout.is_empty() {
    return Err("working tree dirty; commit, stash, or discard before sync".into());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling sync-base with uncommitted modifications, staged changes, or untracked files present in the workspace.

Common situations: Agent edited files without committing before asking to rebase/sync onto the base branch; build artifacts or temp files left in the tree; a previous tool run left partial edits.

Related errors

• workspace is on '{current}', expected '{expected}'
• a merge is already in progress; resolve it or call again wit
• working tree is not clean; commit before merging to '{target
• git reset --hard {} failed: {}
• git clean {} failed: {}

AI-assisted analysis of xai-org/grok-build@bc7f02eddd (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bcf2451dda7c802b. Report an issue: GitHub.