Hmbown/CodeWhale · error

⚠ tui.toml is malformed — using defaults ({e})

Error message

⚠ tui.toml is malformed — using defaults ({e})

What it means

Same startup fallback as settings.toml but for tui.toml: the file exists yet failed TOML parsing, so TUI-specific configuration is discarded for this session and a ⚠ warning is shown. Launch proceeds with defaults; the corrupt file is not modified or deleted automatically.

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/tui/app/init.rs:139

        // to defaults), surface a warning in the TUI so the user knows their
        // file is broken instead of silently losing all settings.
        let settings_parse_warning = crate::settings::Settings::path().ok().and_then(|p| {
            if p.exists() {
                std::fs::read_to_string(&p).ok().and_then(|raw| {
                    ::toml::from_str::<::toml::Value>(&raw)
                        .err()
                        .map(|e| format!("⚠ settings.toml is malformed — using defaults ({e})"))
                })
            } else {
                None
            }
        });
        let tui_prefs_warning = crate::settings::TuiPrefs::path().ok().and_then(|p| {
            if p.exists() {
                std::fs::read_to_string(&p).ok().and_then(|raw| {
                    ::toml::from_str::<::toml::Value>(&raw)
                        .err()
                        .map(|e| format!("⚠ tui.toml is malformed — using defaults ({e})"))
                })
            } else {
                None
            }
        });

        let mut provider = config.api_provider();

        // A startup route saved explicitly from `/model` is a user choice and
        // must win over a provider merely seeded in config.toml. A one-launch
        // CLI/environment provider override still wins so scripts can pin
        // their route without changing the user's next interactive launch.
        let explicit_launch_provider = crate::config::explicit_launch_provider_override().is_some();
        let mut provider_identity_record = config
            .active_provider_identity(provider)
            .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
                let key = config.provider_identity_for(provider);
                let exact_id = (!(provider == ApiProvider::Custom

View on GitHub (pinned to 0c42157ee5)

Solutions

1. Repair the TOML syntax named in the warning message
2. Remove or rename the file to start from defaults, then re-add settings incrementally
3. Check for schema changes if the file worked under an older version

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at crates/tui/src/tui/app/init.rs:139 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@0c42157ee5 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cc7b7ff5b2b71d22. Report an issue: GitHub.