zed-industries/zed · error

failed to checkout revision {rev} in directory {directory:?}

Error message

failed to checkout revision {rev} in directory {directory:?}: {}

What it means

Raised in checkout_repo when `git checkout <rev>` fails after cloning a tree-sitter grammar repo. The ensure! guard fires because the checkout command returned a non-zero status, and the formatted args append the captured stderr/stdout of the failed checkout so the real git error (typically an unknown revision, a detached worktree, or a corrupt object database) is visible. The fetch status check on the next line is a secondary diagnostic: the revision may simply never have been fetched.

Source

Thrown at crates/extension/src/extension_builder.rs:397

            .output()
            .await
            .context("executing `git fetch`")?;

        let checkout_output = util::command::new_command("git")
            .arg("--git-dir")
            .arg(&git_dir)
            .args(["checkout", rev])
            .current_dir(directory)
            .output()
            .await
            .context("executing `git checkout`")?;
        if !checkout_output.status.success() {
            anyhow::ensure!(
                fetch_output.status.success(),
                "failed to fetch revision {rev} in directory {directory:?}"
            );
            anyhow::bail!(
                "failed to checkout revision {rev} in directory {directory:?}: {}",
                String::from_utf8_lossy(&checkout_output.stderr)
            );
        }

        Ok(())
    }

    async fn install_rust_wasm_target_if_needed(&self) -> Result<()> {
        let rustc_output = util::command::new_command("rustc")
            .args(["--print", "target-libdir", "--target", RUST_TARGET])
            .output()
            .await
            .context("running rustc")?;
        anyhow::ensure!(
            rustc_output.status.success(),
            "failed to retrieve the `{RUST_TARGET}` target libdir: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&rustc_output.stderr)
        );

View on GitHub (pinned to 9d272b0363)

Solutions

1. Verify the revision pinned in the extension's grammar manifest actually exists in the upstream repository (git ls-remote <url> <rev>)
2. Delete the cached grammar directory so checkout_repo re-clones it from scratch, clearing a corrupt .git or a clone missing the needed refs
3. Ensure git can reach the network: the fetch that precedes checkout must succeed before the revision is available
4. Inspect the appended git output in the error message for the underlying cause (unknown revision, permission denied, lock file)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/extension/src/extension_builder.rs:397 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@9d272b0363 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d759fabba5a545b9. Report an issue: GitHub.