GitoxideLabs/gitoxide · error · anyhow::Error

Editor exited with

Error message

Editor {editor_display} exited with {status}

What it means

The editor helper spawns an external editor process (e.g. for commit messages or interactive input), waits for it, and throws this error if the editor exits with a non-zero status. A launch or wait failure is wrapped in separate context errors; this specific error is the editor's own non-success exit code.

Solutions

1. Check the editor's stderr output to see why it failed
2. Verify $GIT_EDITOR / $EDITOR / core.editor points to a working editor
3. Test the editor command manually in a terminal with a sample file
4. Fix or replace the editor wrapper script that exits non-zero

Example fix

// before (env)
GIT_EDITOR=/usr/bin/broken-editor
// after (env)
GIT_EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim

// verify editor is executable before spawning
let ok = std::process::Command::new("sh")
    .arg("-c")
    .arg(format!("command -v {} >/dev/null", editor))
    .status()
    .map(|s| s.success())
    .unwrap_or(false);
if !ok { eprintln!("editor '{editor}' not available"); }

match edit(&editor, &paths) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("exited with") => {
        eprintln!("editor failed or was aborted: {e}");
        std::process::exit(1);
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the function in gitoxide-core/src/repository/editor.rs with a configured editor program that runs but returns a non-zero exit status — e.g. the editor crashed, the user aborted a save, or the editor wrote errors to stderr.

Common situations: Core.editor / GIT_EDITOR / EDITOR misconfiguration pointing at a broken or missing-editor wrapper script; user aborts in the editor (some editors exit non-zero on abort); terminal/shell wrapper returning errors.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

• Git editor exited with
• external diff exited with
• diff pager exited with
• prepared splits have an editor
• prepared commits have an editor

AI-assisted analysis of GitoxideLabs/gitoxide@e73179060b (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/98477c6766f1fc17. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at gitoxide-core/src/repository/editor.rs:18

use std::path::PathBuf;

use anyhow::{Context, Result, bail};

pub fn function(repo: gix::Repository, paths: Vec<PathBuf>) -> Result<()> {
    let editor = repo
        .editor_command()
        .context("Could not prepare editor")?
        .context("No editor is configured and the terminal is not capable of running one")?;
    let editor_display = editor.command.to_string_lossy().into_owned();
    let status = editor
        .args(paths)
        .spawn()
        .with_context(|| format!("Could not launch editor {editor_display}"))?
        .wait()
        .with_context(|| format!("Could not wait for editor {editor_display}"))?;
    if !status.success() {
        bail!("Editor {editor_display} exited with {status}");
    }
    Ok(())
}

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