Tyler-Petrov•4mo ago

Local backend fails to start

The Issue I'm having some issues with getting my Convex backend to start while running it locally. The pnpx convex dev command just times out after 10 seconds. The Setup I'm running Convex on Windows 11 inside of Arch linux using WSL 2 The Error Message pnpx convex dev:

waiting for local backend to start...
✖ Local backend did not start on port 3210 within 10 seconds.
✖ Hit an error while running local deployment.
Your error has been reported to our team, and we'll be working on it.
To opt out, run `npx convex disable-local-deployments`. Then re-run your original command.

waiting for local backend to start...
✖ Local backend did not start on port 3210 within 10 seconds.
✖ Hit an error while running local deployment.
Your error has been reported to our team, and we'll be working on it.
To opt out, run `npx convex disable-local-deployments`. Then re-run your original command.

From convex-local-backend.log (via the CONVEX_TRACE_FILE env var):

[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.541027Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m Starting a Convex backend
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.541060Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m The self-host Convex backend will periodically communicate with a remote beacon server. This is to help Convex understand and improve the product. You can disable this telemetry by setting the --disable-beacon flag or the DISABLE_BEACON environment variable if you are self-hosting using the Docker image.
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.545457Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m Sentry is enabled. Errors will be reported to project with ID 6390839
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.547918Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mlocal_backend::persistence[0m[2m:[0m Connected to SQLite at /home/tpetrov/.convex/anonymous-convex-backend-state/anonymous-jairus/convex_local_backend.sqlite3
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.547988Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2msearch::searcher::searcher[0m[2m:[0m Searchlight starting, local_storage_path: /tmp/.tmpRD3XBA max_size: 500.0 MiB

[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.541027Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m Starting a Convex backend
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.541060Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m The self-host Convex backend will periodically communicate with a remote beacon server. This is to help Convex understand and improve the product. You can disable this telemetry by setting the --disable-beacon flag or the DISABLE_BEACON environment variable if you are self-hosting using the Docker image.
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.545457Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mconvex_local_backend[0m[2m:[0m Sentry is enabled. Errors will be reported to project with ID 6390839
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.547918Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2mlocal_backend::persistence[0m[2m:[0m Connected to SQLite at /home/tpetrov/.convex/anonymous-convex-backend-state/anonymous-jairus/convex_local_backend.sqlite3
[2m2025-05-21T20:39:47.547988Z[0m [32m INFO[0m [2msearch::searcher::searcher[0m[2m:[0m Searchlight starting, local_storage_path: /tmp/.tmpRD3XBA max_size: 500.0 MiB

What I've tried After deleting the ~/.convex directory everything works fine. When it starts to fail after I import my data via pnpx convex import --path <path_to_backup>.zip. Questions I'm fairly certain that my DB is bigger than 500 Mib, so could that last line with the max_size: 500.0 Mib be the issue? Thank you to @Nipunn for his help so far!

10 Replies

Convex Bot•4mo ago

Thanks for posting in <#1088161997662724167>. Reminder: If you have a Convex Pro account, use the Convex Dashboard to file support tickets. - Provide context: What are you trying to achieve, what is the end-user interaction, what are you seeing? (full error message, command output, etc.) - Use search.convex.dev to search Docs, Stack, and Discord all at once. - Additionally, you can post your questions in the Convex Community's <#1228095053885476985> channel to receive a response from AI. - Avoid tagging staff unless specifically instructed. Thank you!

ari•4mo ago

The backend shouldn’t have a size limit, I suspect that log refers to the search feature within the backend I don’t know if anyone on the team has tested the local backend in WSL (yet), but it does work on Linux As a quick litmus test, could you try running the CLI on your Windows machine? And do you know if your WSL setup has any network configuration that might block access to ports?

Tyler-PetrovOP•4mo ago

That's a good idea to run it in Windows. I'll give that a shot The only port stuff I've done is added port forwarding for 3210 and 3211 via netsh so I can access them from my local network on another device I got the same error on Windows too after I imported my data. I would give you the backup for testing, but It has confidential customer data, so I can't. I also tried deleting every file in ~/.convex except for the sqlite db itself, and I was getting the same error. Let me know if there's anything else I could try

ari•4mo ago

Ok cool, that does lead me to believe it has something to do with the data then, and since you tried on window's it's not isolated to your WSL setup. This is a bit out of my depth (I mostly work on the Convex dashboard), but I'll try to get this in front of someone who knows more about how the local backend works No need to share your confidential data -- we'll try to recreate the situation Thanks for your patience and help with debugging!

Tyler-PetrovOP•4mo ago

Absolutely! Please reach out if you have any questions recreating the issue, and I'll let you know if I find any new info as well Also I was incorrect about the db size. The sqlite file is 296 MB (282 MiB), so not anywhere near the limit of the search feature (or whatever it is)

delivery•3mo ago

@Randolph, son of Mandolph Any update on this? I am hitting this on Windows with Node v18 actions

delivery•3mo ago

No description

delivery•3mo ago

This is my log file

Tyler-PetrovOP•3mo ago

@delivery Is it possible your local convex instance isn't running? I'm not really sure otherwise without more context

delivery•3mo ago

It happens when with use node actions and Node V18 on Windows. The error goes away when I get rid of the use node actions. @Randolph, son of Mandolph npx convex dev throws the error messages in the above log and fails to start It does work with node v18 & use node actions on WSL But WSL is much slower than native Windows

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