zed-industries/zed · error

Idle sleep prevention request was abandoned

Error message

Idle sleep prevention request was abandoned

What it means

When requesting an idle-sleep prevention guard on Linux, the platform sends the request to the display-server thread and waits on a oneshot channel. If the sender side is dropped before answering — the request was abandoned, e.g. the backend implementing the guard was torn down — the receiver gets a RecvError and this error is returned.

Source

Thrown at crates/gpui_linux/src/linux/platform.rs:1369

                request
                    .close()
                    .await
                    .context("Failed to release idle sleep prevention")
                    .log_err();
            })
            .detach();
    })
}

#[cfg(any(feature = "wayland", feature = "x11"))]
async fn await_idle_sleep_prevention(
    guard_rx: oneshot::Receiver<Result<ActivityGuard>>,
    executor: &BackgroundExecutor,
) -> Result<ActivityGuard> {
    match futures::future::select(guard_rx, executor.timer(Duration::from_secs(10))).await {
        futures::future::Either::Left((Ok(result), _)) => result,
        futures::future::Either::Left((Err(_), _)) => {
            Err(anyhow!("Idle sleep prevention request was abandoned"))
        }
        futures::future::Either::Right(_) => Err(anyhow!(
            "Idle sleep prevention acquisition timed out after 10 seconds"
        )),
    }
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::*;
    use gpui::{Point, px};

    #[cfg(any(feature = "wayland", feature = "x11"))]
    #[test]
    fn rejects_null_xkb_context() {
        let context = unsafe {
            // libxkbcommon permits unref on null, matching the value returned by Context::new on failure.
            xkb::Context::from_raw_ptr(std::ptr::null_mut())

View on GitHub (pinned to 9d272b0363)

Solutions

1. Retry the idle-sleep prevention request once the platform/connection is confirmed alive.
2. Ensure the platform instance (window/display connection) outlives the prevent_idle_sleep call.
3. Check logs for Wayland/X11 connection errors that would kill the backend task handling the request.
4. If triggered at app shutdown, guard the call site so idle prevention is not requested during teardown.

match platform.prevent_idle_sleep(reason).await {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("abandoned") => {
        log::warn!("idle-sleep request abandoned, retrying once");
        platform.prevent_idle_sleep(reason).await?;
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: prevent_idle_sleep's inner request future completes with the guard_rx oneshot channel closed without a value: the Wayland/X11 helper task or the object responsible for producing the ActivityGuard was dropped/cancelled before replying.

Common situations: Shutting down or closing a window while an idle-inhibition request is in flight; the display backend thread exiting (display server disconnect) mid-request; a race where the app quits between issuing the request and the reply.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• Idle sleep prevention for {reason:?} requires a Linux window
• Idle sleep prevention acquisition timed out after 10 seconds
• blocking sender returned without value
• No GPU adapters found
• wl_seat below required version: {} < {}

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@9d272b0363 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b7cc84d689eb931. Report an issue: GitHub.