bd import fails with duplicate primary key when importing existing JSONL into Dolt workspace

[davidste]

Summary

bd import -i .beads/issues.jsonl fails on a normal existing Dolt workspace with:

Import failed: failed to insert issue <id>: Error 1062: duplicate primary key given: [<id>]

This breaks both direct import and hook-driven import flows (bd hook post-merge / post-checkout) because those paths import into already-populated DBs.

Version

• bd version 0.55.4 (Homebrew: v0.55.4@Homebrew)
• macOS arm64

Minimal Repro

tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
cd "$tmpdir"
git init -q
bd init --quiet --prefix test
bd create "repro issue" -p 1
bd sync
bd import -i .beads/issues.jsonl --json

Actual

Import failed: failed to insert issue test-3vo: Error 1062: duplicate primary key given: [test-3vo]

Expected

Import should be idempotent for existing IDs (update/no-op), not fail on PK collisions.

Extra Context

In our production repo, this surfaces as repeated warnings from hook flows:

Warning: could not import JSONL: failed to insert issue compound-07t: Error 1062: duplicate primary key given: [compound-07t]

Likely Cause

In cmd/bd/import_shared.go, importIssuesCore calls CreateIssuesWithFullOptions directly, and that appears create-only rather than update/upsert semantics for existing IDs.

[shishberg]

Same symptom; my agent suggested a different root cause:

Post-merge JSONL import fails with duplicate primary key (Error 1062)

Version

bd v0.55.4

Problem

After git pull, the post-merge hook imports .beads/issues.jsonl into the Dolt database. If an issue already exists in the local DB, the import fails with:

Warning: could not import JSONL: failed to insert issue slurp-014: Error 1062: duplicate primary key given: [slurp-014]

This leaves beads in a broken state until the user manually nukes and rebuilds the Dolt DB.

Root Cause

internal/storage/dolt/issues.go — insertIssue() (around line 864) uses a plain INSERT INTO issues ... statement. When the issue already exists, MySQL/Dolt returns error 1062 (duplicate primary key).

The bootstrap path in internal/storage/dolt/bootstrap.go (importIssuesBootstrap(), ~line 558) handles this by checking for "Duplicate entry" in the error string and skipping. But the main import path used by the post-merge hook does not — the error propagates up and aborts the import.

Expected Behavior

Re-importing the same JSONL should be idempotent. Issues that already exist should be updated (upsert), not cause a fatal error.

Suggested Fix

Change insertIssue() to use INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE (Dolt supports MySQL syntax), or apply the same skip-on-duplicate logic from importIssuesBootstrap() to the main import path.

Reproduction

1. Have a working beads setup with issues in the Dolt DB
2. Receive a git pull that updates .beads/issues.jsonl with an issue that already exists locally
3. The post-merge hook runs the import and fails with error 1062

[steveyegge]

Closing: the bd import command has been removed. Beads is Dolt-native only — data is written directly to Dolt, no JSONL import needed.