GitHub Code Quality: IOException "No space left on device"

Start with the Analyze (javascript-typescript) job and its Perform CodeQL Analysis step, then inspect the logged codeql database run-queries invocation and the runner disk-space warning. Determine whether the action can handle this failure or whether the issue is entirely runner capacity; done means the analysis completes reliably or the limitation is clearly documented.

Hi, first of all, thanks for your continued work on GitHub infrastructure including Actions and CodeQL, really great!

I just enabled GitHub Code Quality in a medium-sized monorepo of ours, and the new action immediately failed during the Perform CodeQL Analysis step of the Analyze (javascript-typescript) job, running into low disk space issues.

This is a well-known issue with GitHub Actions runners, seemingly because of a reduction in available disk space on the runners in 2024:

• https://github.com/actions/runner-images/issues/10386
• https://github.com/actions/runner-images/issues/9344
• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/26488
• https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/26493

Errors reported in the logs below include:

1. Severe disk cache trouble (corruption or out of space)
2. Failed to write item to disk
3. IOException "No space left on device"
4. Warning: The Actions runner is running low on disk space (664.8 MB available).

Job: Analyze (javascript-typescript)
Step: Perform CodeQL Analysis

Run github/codeql-action/analyze@v3
  with:
    category: /language:javascript-typescript
    upload-database: false
    output: ../results
    upload: always
    skip-queries: false
    ...
    wait-for-processing: true
    token: ***
    matrix: {
    "language": "javascript-typescript",
    "category": "/language:javascript-typescript",
    "build-mode": "none",
    "runner": "[\"ubuntu-latest\"]"
  }
    expect-error: false
  env:
    CODE_SCANNING_REF: refs/heads/main
    CODE_SCANNING_BASE_BRANCH: 
    CODE_SCANNING_IS_ANALYZING_DEFAULT_BRANCH: true
    CODE_SCANNING_WORKFLOW_FILE: ...
    CODEQL_ACTION_FEATURE_MULTI_LANGUAGE: false
    CODEQL_ACTION_FEATURE_SANDWICH: false
    CODEQL_ACTION_FEATURE_SARIF_COMBINE: true
    CODEQL_ACTION_FEATURE_WILL_UPLOAD: true
    CODEQL_ACTION_VERSION: 3.31.2
    JOB_RUN_UUID: f2ed4aa8-134b-4876-9080-a782525ac55e
    CODEQL_ACTION_INIT_HAS_RUN: true
    CODEQL_ACTION_ANALYSIS_KEY: dynamic/github-code-scanning/codeql:analyze
    CODEQL_WORKFLOW_STARTED_AT: 2025-11-01T07:54:35.059Z
    CODEQL_RAM: 6920
    CODEQL_THREADS: 2
    CODEQL_PROXY_HOST: 
    CODEQL_PROXY_PORT: 
    CODEQL_PROXY_CA_CERTIFICATE: 
    CODEQL_PROXY_URLS: 
While resolving threads, found a cgroup CPUs file with 2 CPUs in /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset.cpus.effective.
Not performing diff-informed analysis because we are not analyzing a pull request.
Extracting javascript
Finalizing javascript
Running queries for javascript

  ...

  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/DuplicateDependency.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/DependencyMismatch.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/IncompatibleService.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/MissingExplicitInjection.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/RepeatedInjection.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/UseNgSrc.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/DOM/DuplicateAttributes.ql.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/DOM/MalformedIdAttribute.ql.
  [1/99 eval 10m19s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/DependencyMismatch.bqrs.
  [2/99 eval 10m19s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/IncompatibleService.bqrs.
  [3/99 eval 10m19s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/DuplicateDependency.bqrs.
  [4/99 eval 12m16s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/MissingExplicitInjection.bqrs.
  [5/99 eval 12m16s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/AngularJS/RepeatedInjection.bqrs.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/DOM/PseudoEval.ql.
  [6/99 eval 4m21s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/DOM/PseudoEval.bqrs.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/Declarations/ArgumentsRedefined.ql.
  [7/99 eval 23.4s] Evaluation done; writing results to codeql/javascript-queries/Declarations/ArgumentsRedefined.bqrs.
  Starting evaluation of codeql/javascript-queries/Declarations/AssignmentToConst.ql.
  Oops! A fatal internal error occurred. Details:
  com.semmle.util.exception.CatastrophicError: An error occurred while evaluating num#AbstractPropertiesImpl::MkAbstractProperty#c6cb71fa/3@i19#1ab1e1wp
  Severe disk cache trouble (corruption or out of space) at /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql_databases/javascript/db-javascript/default/cache/pages/38/6c.pack: Failed to write item to disk
  The RA to evaluate was:
  
      {3} r1 = INVOKE HIGHER-ORDER RELATION construct<AbstractPropertiesImpl#5654241c::TAbstractProperty,0> ON <AbstractPropertiesImpl::MkAbstractProperty#dom#d09da573#prev_delta>
      return r1
  
  (eventual cause: IOException "No space left on device")
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.MetaPipelineInstance.wrapWithRaDump(MetaPipelineInstance.java:212)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.MetaPipelineInstance.exceptionCaught(MetaPipelineInstance.java:182)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.handleAndLog(ThreadableWork.java:593)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:410)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.RecursiveLayer$RecursiveWork.doWork(RecursiveLayer.java:514)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:396)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ExecutionScheduler.runnerMain(ExecutionScheduler.java:710)
  	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
  Caused by: Severe disk cache trouble (corruption or out of space) at /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql_databases/javascript/db-javascript/default/cache/pages/38/6c.pack: Failed to write item to disk
  (eventual cause: IOException "No space left on device")
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.RelationCacheImpl.lambda$create$0(RelationCacheImpl.java:87)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.put(OnDiskStore.java:136)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.interfaces.HashBasedCache.putIfPresent(HashBasedCache.java:29)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor$ItemHandle.writeToDisk(Evictor.java:723)
  	at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(Unknown Source)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor.writeSelectedItems(Evictor.java:1059)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor.reduceMemoryUsage(Evictor.java:459)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.MemoryManager.reduceArraySpace(MemoryManager.java:342)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator.allocateArrays(RigidArrayAllocator.java:178)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator$1.<init>(RigidArrayAllocator.java:216)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator.preallocate(RigidArrayAllocator.java:211)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.MemoryManager.preallocate(MemoryManager.java:491)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagePrimitives.parseItem(PagePrimitives.java:90)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.prepareLoading(OnDiskStore.java:275)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.getItem(OnDiskStore.java:193)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.CacheChainPartialMetadata.getItem(CacheChainPartialMetadata.java:62)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.interfaces.HashBasedCache.getItem(HashBasedCache.java:44)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.RelationCacheImpl.getPage(RelationCacheImpl.java:291)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagedRelation.getPage(PagedRelation.java:93)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.switchPageTo(IntArrayMatcher.java:158)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.locate(IntArrayMatcher.java:429)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.locate(IntArrayMatcher.java:447)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.matchTuple(IntArrayMatcher.java:522)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.UnionRelation$UnionMatchCache.matchTuple(UnionRelation.java:135)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool$ComplexNumberer$NumberSink.addTuple(TuplePool.java:658)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.BaseIntArrayRelation.map(BaseIntArrayRelation.java:88)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.AbstractRelation.deduplicateMap(AbstractRelation.java:138)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool$ComplexNumberer.lambda$doNumbering$0(TuplePool.java:444)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.writers.RelationWriter.withSink(RelationWriter.java:72)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool$ComplexNumberer.doNumbering(TuplePool.java:440)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool.lambda$doNumbering$1(TuplePool.java:245)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool$ComplexNumberer.doWithBranchLock(TuplePool.java:540)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.TuplePool.doNumbering(TuplePool.java:233)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.ast.IMBConstructDatatype.doNumberingStreaming(IMBConstructDatatype.java:165)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.ast.IMBConstructDatatype$1.evaluateSink(IMBConstructDatatype.java:142)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.HOPStep.generateTuples(HOPStep.java:57)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.SimpleHeadStep.lambda$forwardInitialize$0(SimpleHeadStep.java:32)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.HeadEndDispatcher.headEndWork(HeadEndDispatcher.java:75)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.PipelineState.doSomeWork(PipelineState.java:88)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.PipelineInstance.doWork(PipelineInstance.java:79)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:396)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ChainingWork.doWork(ChainingWork.java:30)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:396)
  	... 6 more
  Caused by: java.io.IOException: No space left on device
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.UnixFileDispatcherImpl.write0(Native Method)
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.UnixFileDispatcherImpl.write(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.writeFromNativeBuffer(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.write(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.IOUtil.write(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/sun.nio.ch.FileChannelImpl.write(Unknown Source)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.IntArray.writeToChannel(IntArray.java:223)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.IntArray.writeTo(IntArray.java:149)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.ConcreteIntArrayRelation.serialiseToDisk(ConcreteIntArrayRelation.java:51)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagePrimitives.serialiseItem(PagePrimitives.java:75)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagePrimitives.serialiseItem(PagePrimitives.java:26)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskPack$Appender.writeItemToSelectedLocation(OnDiskPack.java:337)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskPack$Appender.selectLocationAndWriteItem(OnDiskPack.java:310)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskPack$Appender.writeFromRam(OnDiskPack.java:255)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskPack.store(OnDiskPack.java:224)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.put(OnDiskStore.java:126)
  	... 47 more
  
  Error: Error running analysis for javascript: Encountered a fatal error while running "/opt/hostedtoolcache/CodeQL/2.23.3/x64/codeql/codeql database run-queries --ram=6920 --threads=2 --expect-discarded-cache /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql_databases/javascript --min-disk-free=1024 -v". Exit code was 100 and error was: Oops! A fatal internal error occurred. Details:
  com.semmle.util.exception.CatastrophicError: An error occurred while evaluating num#AbstractPropertiesImpl::MkAbstractProperty#c6cb71fa/3@i19#1ab1e1wp
  Severe disk cache trouble (corruption or out of space) at /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql_databases/javascript/db-javascript/default/cache/pages/38/6c.pack: Failed to write item to disk
  The RA to evaluate was:
  
      {3} r1 = INVOKE HIGHER-ORDER RELATION construct<AbstractPropertiesImpl#5654241c::TAbstractProperty,0> ON <AbstractPropertiesImpl::MkAbstractProperty#dom#d09da573#prev_delta>
      return r1
  
  (eventual cause: IOException "No space left on device")
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.MetaPipelineInstance.wrapWithRaDump(MetaPipelineInstance.java:212)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.pipeline.MetaPipelineInstance.exceptionCaught(MetaPipelineInstance.java:182)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.handleAndLog(ThreadableWork.java:593)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:410)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.RecursiveLayer$RecursiveWork.doWork(RecursiveLayer.java:514)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ThreadableWork.doSomeWork(ThreadableWork.java:396)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.scheduler.execution.ExecutionScheduler.runnerMain(ExecutionScheduler.java:710)
  	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
  	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
  Caused by: Severe disk cache trouble (corruption or out of space) at /home/runner/work/_temp/codeql_databases/javascript/db-javascript/default/cache/pages/38/6c.pack: Failed to write item to disk
  (eventual cause: IOException "No space left on device")
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.RelationCacheImpl.lambda$create$0(RelationCacheImpl.java:87)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.put(OnDiskStore.java:136)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.interfaces.HashBasedCache.putIfPresent(HashBasedCache.java:29)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor$ItemHandle.writeToDisk(Evictor.java:723)
  	at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(Unknown Source)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor.writeSelectedItems(Evictor.java:1059)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.Evictor.reduceMemoryUsage(Evictor.java:459)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.MemoryManager.reduceArraySpace(MemoryManager.java:342)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator.allocateArrays(RigidArrayAllocator.java:178)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator$1.<init>(RigidArrayAllocator.java:216)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.RigidArrayAllocator.preallocate(RigidArrayAllocator.java:211)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.alloc.MemoryManager.preallocate(MemoryManager.java:491)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagePrimitives.parseItem(PagePrimitives.java:90)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.prepareLoading(OnDiskStore.java:275)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.disk.OnDiskStore.getItem(OnDiskStore.java:193)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.evict.CacheChainPartialMetadata.getItem(CacheChainPartialMetadata.java:62)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.byhash.interfaces.HashBasedCache.getItem(HashBasedCache.java:44)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.RelationCacheImpl.getPage(RelationCacheImpl.java:291)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.caching.PagedRelation.getPage(PagedRelation.java:93)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.switchPageTo(IntArrayMatcher.java:158)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.locate(IntArrayMatcher.java:429)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.IntArrayMatcher.locate(IntArrayMatcher.java:447)
  	at com.semmle.inmemory.relations.In
  Warning: The Actions runner is running low on disk space (664.8 MB available).

Suggested solutions

The github/codeql-action could either / both:

1. Use less disk space
2. Clean up unused tools to recover disk space eg:
   • https://github.com/actions/runner-images/issues/2875#issuecomment-1163363045
   • https://github.com/actions/runner-images/issues/10386#issuecomment-2269439585