XTLS/Xray-core · error

empty tag name!

Error message

empty tag name!

What it means

RemoveRule treats an empty tag as a programming error: the removal loop only runs when tag != ", so an empty string can never match anything and is rejected rather than silently succeeding. Tags are the sole selector for rule removal.

Source

Thrown at app/router/router.go:228

// RemoveRule implements routing.Router.
func (r *Router) RemoveRule(tag string) error {
	r.mu.Lock()
	defer r.mu.Unlock()

	newRules := []*Rule{}
	if tag != "" {
		for _, rule := range r.rules {
			if rule.RuleTag != tag {
				newRules = append(newRules, rule)
			} else if rule.Webhook != nil {
				rule.Webhook.Close()
			}
		}
		r.rules = newRules
		return nil
	}
	return errors.New("empty tag name!")
}

// ListRule implements routing.Router
func (r *Router) ListRule() []routing.Route {
	r.mu.Lock()
	defer r.mu.Unlock()
	ruleList := make([]routing.Route, 0)
	for _, rule := range r.rules {
		ruleList = append(ruleList, &Route{
			outboundTag: rule.Tag,
			ruleTag:     rule.RuleTag,
		})
	}
	return ruleList
}

func (r *Router) pickRouteInternal(ctx routing.Context) (*Rule, routing.Context, error) {
	// SkipDNSResolve is set from DNS module.

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d214f8b09)

Solutions

1. Supply the exact ruleTag of an existing rule (obtainable from ListRule)
2. Guard client-side against empty tags before calling RemoveRule
3. Ensure rules you intend to manage dynamically are configured with ruleTag set

Example fix

// before
r.RemoveRule(rule.GetRuleTag()) // rule had no ruleTag -> ""

// after
// configure rules with explicit ruleTag, then:
r.RemoveRule("my-rule-tag")

if strings.TrimSpace(tag) == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("ruleTag required for removal")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling RemoveRule with an empty/zero-value string; protobuf field ruleTag left unset by client code.

Common situations: Clients reading ruleTag from a struct where the field was never populated; UI panels sending empty selections; default-initialized requests.

Related errors

• failed to parse user
• unable to select outbounds
• unsupported GetPrincipleTarget
• cannot find tag
• unsupported router implementation

AI-assisted analysis of XTLS/Xray-core@7d214f8b09 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dc7e60973cf60634. Report an issue: GitHub.