zed-industries/zed · error

object not found: {}

Error message

object not found: {}

What it means

While reading a cat-file --batch response, git answered `<sha> missing`: the object does not exist in the local repository. It was never fetched, was pruned, or the SHA is wrong — this is git stating the object is absent, not a parse failure.

Source

Thrown at crates/git/src/repository.rs:3579

            Ok(parse_file_history_changed_files_output(
                &stdout,
                &paths,
                &shallow_boundary_oids,
            ))
        }
        .boxed()
    }

    fn commit_data_reader(&self) -> Result<CommitDataReader> {
        let git_binary = self.git_binary();

        let (request_tx, request_rx) = async_channel::bounded::<CommitDataRequest>(64);

        let task = self.executor.spawn(async move {
            if let Err(error) = run_commit_data_reader(git_binary, request_rx).await {
                log::error!("commit data reader failed: {error:?}");
            }
        });

        Ok(CommitDataReader {
            request_tx,
            _task: task,
        })
    }

    fn set_trusted(&self, trusted: bool) {
        self.is_trusted
            .store(trusted, std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Release);
    }

    fn is_trusted(&self) -> bool {
        self.is_trusted.load(std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Acquire)
    }
}

async fn run_commit_data_reader(

View on GitHub (pinned to 5a9b9558db)

Solutions

1. Fetch the object: `git fetch <remote> <sha>` (requires uploadpack.allowAnySHA1InWant on the server) or fetch the containing ref.
2. For shallow clones, deepen or unshallow the repository.
3. Pre-validate external SHAs with `git cat-file -e <sha> ^{commit}` and skip objects that are absent.
4. Do not persist SHAs that only exist via reflog or unreachable objects.

fn object_exists(git: &GitBinary, sha: &str) -> impl Future<Output = bool> + '_ {
    async move {
        git.run(&["cat-file", "-e", sha]).await.is_ok()
    }
}

let loadable: Vec<_> = shas.iter().filter(|s| object_exists(git, s).await).collect();

match load_commits(&shas).await {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("object not found") => {
        // missing objects are expected for shallow/pruned clones: skip them or fetch first
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Batch-loading commit data for a SHA that is not in the local object store: shallow clones (object beyond the graft depth), objects pruned by `git gc`, SHAs that exist only on an unfetched remote, or mistyped/truncated SHAs.

Common situations: Opening permalinks or pasted SHAs against a shallow clone; long-lived sessions after a background `git gc --prune` removed unreachable objects; multi-remote projects where the SHA lives only on a remote that is not configured locally.

Related errors

• unexpected number of shas
• revision spec {revision:?} contains a newline and cannot be
• invalid cat-file header: {header_line}
• expected commit object, got {object_type}
• grammar directory '{}' already exists, but is not a git clon

AI-assisted analysis of zed-industries/zed@5a9b9558db (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ff3f2e84f323b4f3. Report an issue: GitHub.