Bug: Database initialization fails - "no such table: messages"

[HatcherZhao]

Summary

Open Cowork Windows installer version 3.3.0-beta.1 fails to start due to incomplete database initialization. Only the sessions table is created, but the messages table is
missing.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.22621
• App Version: 3.3.0-beta.1
• Electron Version: 31.7.7
• Node Version: v20.18.0
• Installation Type: Windows Installer (Open Cowork.exe)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Open Cowork using the Windows installer
2. Launch Open Cowork.exe
3. Application fails to start with error popup

Error Log

[ERROR] [Database] Schema initialization failed: {
"name": "SqliteError",
"message": "no such table: messages",
"stack": "SqliteError: no such table: messages
at Database.exec (C:\Program Files\Open Cowork\resources\app.asar\node_modules\better-sqlite3\lib\methods\wrappers.js:9:14)
at aR (C:\Program Files\Open Cowork\resources\app.asar\dist-electron\main\index-DUf2hfWR.js:107:196)
..."
}

Root Cause Analysis

After deleting cowork.db and restarting, the app only creates the sessions table. The messages, trace_steps, memory_entries, and skills tables are not created during
initialization.

The initializeSchema() function in src/main/db/database.ts should create all tables, but something interrupts the process after the sessions table is created.

Workaround

Manually creating the missing tables fixes the issue:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS messages (...);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS trace_steps (...);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS memory_entries (...);
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS skills (...);
-- plus indexes

After manual table creation, the app starts successfully.

Expected Behavior

All required tables should be created during database initialization on first startup.

Actual Behavior

Only sessions table is created; other tables are missing, causing startup failure.

[hqhq1025]

Thanks for the detailed report.

This issue has been fixed in v3.3.0-beta.5 and later. The database initialization and migration pipeline was overhauled — the messages table creation is now properly sequenced during first-run setup.

Please try the latest release:
https://github.com/OpenCoworkAI/open-cowork/releases/tag/v3.3.0-beta.8

If the issue persists after upgrading, please share your logs and we'll investigate further.

[github-actions]

Thanks for the detailed report. I checked the current code in this repository and verified that the app initializes the SQLite database during startup, before SessionManager and SkillsManager are created. In the current tree, the schema initializer creates sessions, messages, trace_steps, memory_entries, skills, and scheduled_tasks in sequence, and the database layer prepares messages statements immediately afterward. That means the partial schema you saw in 3.3.0-beta.1 is consistent with the startup failure you reported.

Relevant code:

• package.json:3 - current repository version is 3.3.0-beta.9
• src/main/index.ts:811 - app startup calls initDatabase() before the main managers are constructed
• src/main/db/database.ts:219 - initializeSchema() creates sessions, messages, trace_steps, memory_entries, skills, and scheduled_tasks
• src/main/db/database.ts:456 - prepared statements for messages are created right after schema initialization
• src/main/session/session-manager.ts:1061 - session loading reads persisted rows from messages

Need more info:

• Does this still reproduce on the latest build from the current codebase (3.3.0-beta.9 in package.json)?
• If yes, please share the startup log lines around [Database] Schema initialization failed from that run.
• After deleting cowork.db on the latest build, does the recreated database still contain only sessions, or are other tables created before the failure?

---

Open Cowork Bot

[hqhq1025]

Closing as stale — awaiting feedback for over 2 weeks with no response. If the issue persists, please reopen or file a new issue. Thanks!