DioxusLabs/dioxus · error

Cannot enable raw mode on a non-terminal output

Error message

Cannot enable raw mode on a non-terminal output

What it means

Environment guard in the TUI output's enable_raw_mode: after installing Unix signal handlers (SIGTSTP/SIGTTIN/SIGTTOU) so terminal raw mode plays nicely with job control, the code checks whether stdout is actually a terminal and refuses to enable raw mode when it is not (e.g. output piped to a file or a non-tty program like `bg`). The input at fault is the non-terminal stdout the output layer was given.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/serve/output.rs:157

    /// Enable raw mode, but don't let it block forever.
    ///
    /// This lets us check if writing to tty is going to block forever and then recover, allowing
    /// interopability with programs like `bg`.
    fn enable_raw_mode() -> Result<()> {
        #[cfg(unix)]
        {
            use tokio::signal::unix::{SignalKind, signal};

            // Ignore SIGTSTP, SIGTTIN, and SIGTTOU
            _ = signal(SignalKind::from_raw(20))?; // SIGTSTP
            _ = signal(SignalKind::from_raw(21))?; // SIGTTIN
            _ = signal(SignalKind::from_raw(22))?; // SIGTTOU
        }

        use std::io::IsTerminal;

        if !stdout().is_terminal() {
            bail!("Cannot enable raw mode on a non-terminal output");
        }

        enable_raw_mode()?;
        stdout()
            .execute(Hide)?
            .execute(EnableFocusChange)?
            .execute(EnableBracketedPaste)?;

        Ok(())
    }

    pub(crate) fn remote_shutdown(interactive: bool) -> Result<()> {
        if interactive && crossterm::terminal::is_raw_mode_enabled().unwrap_or(true) {
            stdout()
                .execute(Show)?
                .execute(DisableFocusChange)?
                .execute(DisableBracketedPaste)?;
            disable_raw_mode()?;

View on GitHub (pinned to 24f6a829df)

Solutions

1. Raw mode needs a terminal. Run dx serve in a real terminal, or use a non-TUI output mode.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/cli/src/serve/output.rs:157 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of DioxusLabs/dioxus@24f6a829df (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/883bb4c1a1b8afca. Report an issue: GitHub.