From ab953e8a3e4e48146add563f586c37661d1ad318 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dawn <dawn@tangled.org>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2026 18:08:53 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] spindle/tapclient: debug log instead of erroring on repo
 sparse-clone failure

Signed-off-by: dawn <dawn@tangled.org>
---
 spindle/tapclient.go      |  4 +++-
 spindle/tapclient_test.go | 16 ++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/spindle/tapclient.go b/spindle/tapclient.go
index 0b9de4037..3c46286dc 100644
--- a/spindle/tapclient.go
+++ b/spindle/tapclient.go
@@ -231,7 +231,9 @@ func (t *Tap) processRepo(ctx context.Context, evt *tapc.RecordEventData) error
 		repoCloneUri := t.spindle.newRepoCloneUrl(repo.Knot, repo.RepoDid)
 		repoPath := t.spindle.newRepoPath(repo.RepoDid)
 		if err := gitutil.SparseSync(ctx, repoCloneUri, repoPath, "", sparseWorkflowDir); err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("setting up sparse-clone git repo: %w", err)
+			// don't fail here. the repo might just genuinely be empty (in which case
+			// SparseSync would error out!)
+			l.Debug("failed to sparse-clone git repo, will retry on push", "err", err)
 		}
 
 		legacyName := ""
diff --git a/spindle/tapclient_test.go b/spindle/tapclient_test.go
index 8464a3c54..077a70045 100644
--- a/spindle/tapclient_test.go
+++ b/spindle/tapclient_test.go
@@ -83,9 +83,15 @@ func TestProcessRepo_MembershipCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	if jcerr != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("NewJetstreamClient: %v", jcerr)
 	}
+	tapServer := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	}))
+	t.Cleanup(tapServer.Close)
+
 	s := &Spindle{
 		db:      d,
 		e:       e,
+		vault:   newTestVault(t),
 		l:       slog.Default(),
 		cfg:     cfg,
 		jc:      jc,
@@ -96,6 +102,7 @@ func TestProcessRepo_MembershipCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	tap := &Tap{
 		spindle: s,
 		logger:  slog.Default(),
+		tap:     tapc.NewClient(tapServer.URL, "admin"),
 	}
 
 	ownerDid := syntax.DID("did:plc:memberowner")
@@ -152,12 +159,13 @@ func TestProcessRepo_MembershipCheck(t *testing.T) {
 		Action:     tapc.RecordCreateAction,
 		Record:     recMemberJson,
 	})
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatal("expected git clone error for valid member, but got nil")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("processRepo returned unexpected error for member: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "setting up sparse-clone git repo") {
-		t.Fatalf("expected sparse-clone error, got: %v", err)
+	_, err = d.GetRepoByOwnerRkey(ownerDid, "test-repo-rkey")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("repo for member was not registered in DB: %v", err)
 	}
 }
 
-- 
2.51.2