JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh · error

received empty token

Error message

received empty token

What it means

Ytmda.Authenticate authenticates against the YouTube Music Desktop App Companion API: it requests a code, exchanges it for a token, and stores the token. If requestToken returns no error but the token is an empty string (the server replied 200 with a body whose "token" field is absent/empty), the flow fails with "received empty token" rather than caching a useless empty credential.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/auth/tui/ytmda.go:61

	if err != nil {
		y.err = err
		setState(done)
		return
	}

	y.code = code
	setState(token)
	y.lastState = token

	token, err := y.requestToken(code)
	if err != nil {
		y.err = err
		setState(done)
		return
	}

	if token == "" {
		y.err = fmt.Errorf("received empty token")
		setState(done)
		return
	}

	cache.Device.Set(auth.YTMDATOKEN, token, cache.INFINITE)

	setState(done)
}

func (y *Ytmda) requestCode() (string, error) {
	body := fmt.Sprintf(`{"appId": "ohmyposh", "appName": "oh-my-posh", "appVersion": "%s"}`, strings.TrimPrefix(build.Version, "v"))

	type codeResponse struct {
		Code string `json:"code"`
	}

	result, err := ytmdaRequest[codeResponse](httplib.MethodPost, codeURL, body, y.env)

View on GitHub (pinned to 0976794618)

Solutions

1. Retry authentication and make sure to press Allow in the YTMDA pop-up window before the flow completes
2. Verify the YouTube Music Desktop App is up to date so the Companion API returns a proper token payload
3. Check Companion API settings in YTMDA (enable companion authorization) and restart the app
4. Retry after the API recovers; the error is transient server behavior, not a client bug

Example fix

// before (server returns empty token)
err: received empty token

// after (user retries with approval)
// press Allow in YTMDA, then rerun the authenticate flow

func isEmptyToken(token string) bool { return token == "" }

token, err := requestToken(code)
if err != nil {
	return err
}
if token == "" {
	// wait for the user to press Allow, then retry once
	time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
	token, err = requestToken(code)
}

When it happens

Trigger: POST to /auth/request succeeds at HTTP level and JSON decodes, but the response JSON lacks a non-empty "token" field — e.g. the user has not yet pressed Allow, or the Companion API returns an empty/odd body that still unmarshals cleanly.

Common situations: The YTMDA Companion API is running but the pop-up approval was never confirmed or already expired; an older YTMDA version returns a differently-shaped JSON body; a proxy strips the token field; the request happened before the user clicked Allow.

Related errors

• no elements in the array
• no data found
• Withings API error: <status>
• authentication error: %s - %s
• unable to get data for team %s

AI-assisted analysis of JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh@0976794618 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b0483518e1c7ed95. Report an issue: GitHub.