JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh · error

unable to create text based on template

Error message

unable to create text based on template

What it means

After a template parses successfully, execute() runs tmpl.Execute against the template context. When execution fails (e.g. calling a method on nil, a function returning an error, index out of range at runtime) the renderer logs the cause and throws the generic 'unable to create text based on template'.

Source

Thrown at src/template/render.go:131

	// Store; if another goroutine already stored an equivalent template, use theirs.
	actual, _ := parsedTemplates.LoadOrStore(key, tmpl)
	return actual.(*template.Template), nil
}

func (t *renderer) execute(text *Text) (string, error) {
	tmpl, err := parsedTemplate(text)
	if err != nil {
		log.Error(err)
		return "", errors.New(InvalidTemplate)
	}

	t.context.init(text)

	err = tmpl.Execute(&t.buffer, t.context)
	if err != nil {
		log.Error(err)
		return "", errors.New(IncorrectTemplate)
	}

	output := t.buffer.String()

	// issue with missingkey=zero ignored for map[string]any
	// https://github.com/golang/go/issues/24963
	output = strings.ReplaceAll(output, "<no value>", "")

	return output, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0976794618)

Solutions

1. Inspect the log output immediately preceding the error for the real execution cause
2. Run `oh-my-posh debug` to see which segment/template fails at runtime
3. Fix function arguments in the template (types, counts, values)
4. Guard risky property accesses with `if` checks or default values
5. Pin/upgrade oh-my-posh if a context field changed between versions

Example fix

// before
{{ random .MaybeNilList }}
// after
{{ if .MaybeNilList }}{{ random .MaybeNilList }}{{ end }}

// pre-render check: exercise the template in debug mode
oh-my-posh debug  # shows the underlying execution error per segment

// catch and fall back to a safe static prompt
out, err := renderer.render(text)
if err != nil {
    if err.Error() == "unable to create text based on template" {
        out = fallbackText
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: A syntactically valid template whose execution panics or errors: invoking a template function with bad arguments (like random on wrong input), accessing fields of a nil pointer, wrong argument counts to funcs, or errors returned by custom funcs.

Common situations: Calling functions with invalid arguments at render time; template referencing properties absent on the segment's context in a way that errors rather than yielding <no value>; version changes that altered template context fields.

Related errors

• input must be a slice or array
• input slice or array is empty
• no valid terraform files found
• empty m_EditorVersion
• ProjectSettings/ProjectVersion.txt is missing m_EditorVersio

AI-assisted analysis of JanDeDobbeleer/oh-my-posh@0976794618 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b96edee46753a9bc. Report an issue: GitHub.