GitoxideLabs/gitoxide · error · anyhow::Error

JSON output isn't implemented yet

Error message

JSON output isn't implemented yet

What it means

`gix merge commit` only supports human output; requesting JSON (or any non-Human OutputFormat) raises this message before the merge begins. The JSON rendering for this subcommand is simply not implemented yet.

Solutions

  1. Use the default human output format
  2. Capture and parse the human/JSON debug output of conflicts differently (the command writes conflict details to stderr)
  3. Implement or await JSON support upstream in gitoxide

Example fix

// before
$ gix merge commit --format json ours theirs
// after
$ gix merge commit ours theirs
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if format != OutputFormat::Human {
    // fall back to human output for merge commit
}

Try / catch

match result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("JSON output isn't implemented") =>
        eprintln!("re-run with human output"),
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `gix merge commit --format json ...`; the check `format != OutputFormat::Human` bails immediately, before any merge work is done.

Common situations: Scripted merge analysis expecting JSON output; reusing a shared `--format` flag across subcommands; automation comparing merge results programmatically.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GitoxideLabs/gitoxide@e73179060b (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/88f4c6c7abd2b50a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at gitoxide-core/src/repository/merge/commit.rs:28

pub fn commit(
    mut repo: gix::Repository,
    out: &mut dyn std::io::Write,
    err: &mut dyn std::io::Write,
    ours: BString,
    theirs: BString,
    Options {
        format,
        file_favor,
        tree_favor,
        in_memory,
        debug,
        message: _,
        update_head: _,
    }: Options,
) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    if format != OutputFormat::Human {
        bail!("JSON output isn't implemented yet");
    }
    repo.object_cache_size_if_unset(repo.compute_object_cache_size_for_tree_diffs(&**repo.index_or_empty()?));
    if in_memory {
        repo.objects.enable_object_memory();
    }
    let (ours_ref, ours_id) = refname_and_commit(&repo, ours)?;
    let (theirs_ref, theirs_id) = refname_and_commit(&repo, theirs)?;

    let options = repo
        .tree_merge_options()?
        .with_file_favor(file_favor)
        .with_tree_favor(tree_favor);
    let ours_id_str = ours_id.to_string();
    let theirs_id_str = theirs_id.to_string();
    let labels = gix::merge::blob::builtin_driver::text::Labels {
        ancestor: None,
        current: ours_ref
            .as_ref()

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