Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex · error · Error

malformed detached leader authority

Error message

malformed detached leader authority

What it means

After querying tmux display-message, the helper expects exactly 7 tab-separated fields. A different count means the tmux output format didn't match expectations (old/new tmux version, format string mismatch, or error text in output).

Source

Thrown at src/cli/index.ts:1516

};

type DetachedHudAuthority = {
  paneId: string;
  panePid: number;
  sessionId: string;
  sessionCreated?: string;
  windowId: string;
  operationMarker: string;
};

function captureDetachedLeaderAuthority(leaderPaneId: string, expectedSessionName: string, ownerId: string): DetachedLeaderAuthority {
  if (!/^%[0-9]+$/.test(leaderPaneId) || !ownerId) throw new Error("invalid detached leader authority target");
  const output = execTmuxFileSync([
    "display-message", "-p", "-t", leaderPaneId,
    "#{session_name}\t#{session_id}\t#{session_created}\t#{window_index}\t#{window_id}\t#{pane_id}\t#{pane_pid}",
  ], { encoding: "utf-8", stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "ignore"] }).trim();
  const fields = output.split("\t");
  if (fields.length !== 7) throw new Error("malformed detached leader authority");
  const [sessionName, sessionId, sessionCreated, windowIndex, windowId, paneId, panePid] = fields;
  if (sessionName !== expectedSessionName || paneId !== leaderPaneId || !/^\$[0-9]+$/.test(sessionId)
    || !/^[0-9]+$/.test(sessionCreated) || !/^[0-9]+$/.test(windowIndex)
    || !/^@[0-9]+$/.test(windowId) || !/^[1-9][0-9]*$/.test(panePid)) {
    throw new Error("malformed detached leader authority");
  }
  const parsedPid = Number(panePid);
  if (!Number.isSafeInteger(parsedPid) || parsedPid <= 0) throw new Error("malformed detached leader authority");
  return { paneId, panePid: parsedPid, sessionName, sessionId, sessionCreated, windowId, windowIndex, ownerId };
}

/** Internal detached-launch seam. Exported solely for deterministic CLI tests. */
export function parseDetachedLeaderPaneIdByPid(snapshot: string, leaderPid: number): string {
  if (!Number.isSafeInteger(leaderPid) || leaderPid <= 0) throw new Error("invalid detached leader pid");
  const matches = snapshot
    .split("\n")
    .map((line) => line.trim())
    .filter(Boolean)

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ad79a8a6f)

Solutions

1. Run the display-message command manually with -t <pane> and inspect the output
2. Verify the tmux version supports all used format variables
3. Check that the target pane still exists

const fields = output.trim().split('\t');
if (fields.length !== 7) throw new Error('unexpected tmux output');

catch (e) { if (e.message === 'malformed detached leader authority') { /* log raw tmux output, re-discover leader */ } }

When it happens

Trigger: execTmuxFileSync returns output that splits into != 7 fields — e.g. tmux emitted an error, or the format specifier was altered.

Common situations: Tmux version differences changing format expansion; target pane missing causing error output; locale/format regressions.

Understand the failure class

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

Related errors

• invalid detached leader authority target
• invalid auth slot path
• shutdown_shared_session_${kind.replaceAll(' ', '_')}_pid_mis
• sanitizeTeamName: empty after sanitization
• sendToWorker: text must be < 200 characters

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dd8be27369cd8342. Report an issue: GitHub.