Troubleshooting
Desk cannot identify one source agent
Section titled “Desk cannot identify one source agent”Several agents may have sessions or instruction markers in a project, or none may be present. Specify the source:
desk pack --from=claudedesk pack --from=claudedesk move --to=codexUse --project and --source-home when the defaults do not point to the intended
project or native state. --session selects a specific existing conversation.
The source agent is still running
Section titled “The source agent is still running”Stop it manually, along with other project writers, and retry. Desk never stops a source process on your behalf. For Bob, running or compacting tasks, live leases, and pending approvals also block capture.
The store is inside the captured tree
Section titled “The store is inside the captured tree”Desk uses ${DESK_HOME:-$HOME/.desk}/store. Run pack from an individual
project that does not contain the store, or select the project explicitly:
desk pack --from=claude --project=/path/to/projectDo not pack your entire HOME or a parent directory containing the store.
The target executable cannot be found
Section titled “The target executable cannot be found”Install the target and put it on PATH, or pass its absolute executable path:
desk move PACK_ID --to=codex --binary=/path/to/codexdesk pack needs no installed target. Bob launch supports version 2.0.2.
Target login or settings are missing
Section titled “Target login or settings are missing”New moves use your normal HOME and existing local login. Check that Desk runs
from the same shell and account as the agent. CODEX_HOME and CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR
are inherited. Older isolated sessions retain their original HOME; move the pack
again with the current binary to create a native local session.
The readable transcript is missing
Section titled “The readable transcript is missing”Inspect work/AGENT_ID/home/.TARGET/.desk-handoff/report.json under the Desk store. An empty source has
no conversation; unsupported or malformed native data may prevent text extraction.
Original native state remains in the archived sessions/ tree for review.
A target exited or a launch was interrupted
Section titled “A target exited or a launch was interrupted”Check desk ps and the retained workspace. Only a prepared entry can be started
with desk move --to=TARGET --resume=AGENT_ID.
A launch that has already been attempted cannot be replayed in the same target. Move the source pack again for an independent attempt. To keep new work, stop writers and pack the target workspace before moving it instead.