aaif-goose/goose · error

Failed to run `gh auth status`. Make sure you have `gh` inst

Error message

Failed to run `gh auth status`. Make sure you have `gh` installed.

What it means

goose shells out to the GitHub CLI (`gh auth status`) to verify authentication before touching recipe repos (crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/github_recipe.rs:105-113). Command::status() returns an io::Error when the `gh` process cannot even be spawned, and that io error is discarded and replaced by this message. It does NOT mean authentication failed — it means `gh` was never executed.

Source

Thrown at crates/goose-cli/src/recipes/github_recipe.rs:112

        download_dir.display(),
        RECIPE_FILE_EXTENSIONS
    ))
}

fn clone_and_download_recipe(recipe_name: &str, recipe_repo_full_name: &str) -> Result<PathBuf> {
    let local_repo_path = ensure_repo_cloned(recipe_repo_full_name)?;
    fetch_origin(&local_repo_path)?;
    get_folder_from_github(&local_repo_path, recipe_name)
}

pub fn ensure_gh_authenticated() -> Result<()> {
    // Check authentication status
    let status = Command::new("gh")
        .args(["auth", "status"])
        .set_no_window()
        .status()
        .map_err(|_| {
            anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to run `gh auth status`. Make sure you have `gh` installed.")
        })?;

    if status.success() {
        return Ok(());
    }
    println!("GitHub CLI is not authenticated. Launching `gh auth login`...");
    // Run `gh auth login` interactively
    let login_status = Command::new("gh")
        .args(["auth", "login", "--git-protocol", "https"])
        .status()
        .map_err(|_| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to run `gh auth login`"))?;

    if !login_status.success() {
        Err(anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to authenticate using GitHub CLI."))
    } else {
        Ok(())
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 3810898a74)

Solutions

1. Install GitHub CLI: `brew install gh` (macOS), `winget install GitHub.cli` (Windows), or see cli.github.com; then restart the shell so PATH picks it up
2. Verify with `command -v gh && gh --version` in the same environment goose runs in (especially CI/cron where PATH differs)
3. If gh is installed but not found, add its install location to PATH or invoke goose from a shell where `gh` resolves

# Pre-flight check in the same shell/environment goose will use
command -v gh >/dev/null 2>&1 && gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1 \
  && echo "gh ready" || echo "install gh and authenticate"

When it happens

Trigger: std::process::Command::new("gh").status() fails: no `gh` binary in PATH (ErrorKind::NotFound), exec permission denied, or exec format error. Triggered by any GitHub-recipe flow (run/list with GOOSE_RECIPE_GITHUB_REPO set).

Common situations: Fresh machine without GitHub CLI installed, `gh` installed via Homebrew but in a non-interactive shell PATH (cron, CI, launchd), or a broken gh installation (partial upgrade, wrong architecture binary).

Related errors

• Failed to run `gh auth login`
• Failed to clone repo: {}
• Failed to fetch repository contents using 'gh api' command (
• Failed to check directory contents: {}
• Failed to authenticate using GitHub CLI.

AI-assisted analysis of aaif-goose/goose@3810898a74 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e2dac3e851576e80. Report an issue: GitHub.