What causes "a pick is outside the editable history" in GitoxideLabs/gitoxide?

Reference a commit ID inside the editable history

a pick is outside the editable history

Error message

a pick is outside the editable history

What it means

Validation inside `edit::todo::parse`. Each `pick` line's commit ID is checked against the set of commits that belong to the editable history; if the picked commit resolves to a commit outside that history (or an ID that cannot be resolved into it), parsing bails. This prevents the resulting rebase plan from silently grafting foreign commits into the edited branch. Fired by hand-edited todo files referencing hashes not part of the displayed history; fix by picking only commits listed in the editable range or removing the line.

Solutions

Reference a commit ID inside the editable history
Widen the plan scope to include the desired commit
Delete the pick line if the commit should not be replayed

Example fix

// before
pick 9999999  # outside the edited range
// after
pick abc1234  # inside the edited range

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let id = repo.rev_parse_single(value)?;
if !scope.contains(&id) {
    anyhow::bail!("pick target {} is outside the editable history", id.shorten_or_id());
}

Type guard

fn pick_in_scope(id: gix::Id<'_>, scope: &HashSet<gix::oid::ObjectId>) -> bool {
    scope.contains(id.object_id())
}

Try / catch

match parse_plan(...) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("a pick is outside the editable history") => { /* correct the pick line */ }
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Verify each picked commit belongs to the edited range before writing the todo
Avoid copying pick lines from unrelated rebase sessions
Beware abbreviated IDs that may resolve to out-of-scope commits

When it happens

Trigger: `parse_plan` resolves a `pick <oid>` (or an abbreviated ID via `resolve_commit`) whose commit is not in the scope set.

Common situations: Picking a commit from another branch or from outside the forked range; typos or stale IDs copied from a previous rebase; abbreviated IDs that resolve to an unintended out-of-scope commit.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GitoxideLabs/gitoxide@e73179060b (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/aeff57fe1c19b5f3. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at gix-tix/src/edit/todo.rs:974

        }
        let parent = cursor.context("the first todo command must follow a fork heading")?;
        let commit = match verb {
            "pick" => {
                let value = value.split_whitespace().next().context("a pick needs a commit ID")?;
                let resolved_id = state.resolved;
                let full_null = resolved_id.is_some_and(|id| {
                    value.len() == id.kind().len_in_bytes() * 2 && value.bytes().all(|byte| byte == b'0')
                });
                let (id, resolved) = if full_null {
                    (
                        resolved_id.context("a null pick has no materialized conflict state")?,
                        true,
                    )
                } else {
                    (resolve_commit(repo, value)?, false)
                };
                if !scope.contains(&id) {
                    anyhow::bail!("a pick is outside the editable history");
                }
                if picked.contains_key(&id) {
                    anyhow::bail!("a commit is picked more than once");
                }
                if resolved {
                    rebase::PlanCommit::Resolved(id)
                } else {
                    rebase::PlanCommit::Pick(id)
                }
            }
            "empty" => {
                let title = if value.trim().is_empty() { tail } else { value.trim() };
                if title.is_empty() {
                    anyhow::bail!("an empty commit needs a title");
                }
                rebase::PlanCommit::Empty(BString::from(title))
            }
            _ => anyhow::bail!("unsupported rebase todo command {verb:?}"),

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