abiosoft/colima · error

embedded default config is invalid yaml: %w

Error message

embedded default config is invalid yaml: %w

What it means

encodeYAML (util/yamlutil/yaml.go:48) unmarshals the embedded defaults/colima.yaml into a yaml.Node; failure means the asset bytes are not valid YAML (tabs for indentation, unclosed quotes, bad anchors). Because the file ships inside the binary and is YAML-validated in the stock repo, hitting this means the embedded content in your binary was corrupted or hand-edited into invalid YAML — an internal invariant, not a runtime condition.

Source

Thrown at util/yamlutil/yaml.go:48

		return err
	}
	if err := os.WriteFile(file, b, 0644); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error writing yaml file: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

func encodeYAML(conf config.Config) ([]byte, error) {
	var doc yaml.Node

	f, err := embedded.Read("defaults/colima.yaml")
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error reading config file: %w", err)
	}

	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(f, &doc); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("embedded default config is invalid yaml: %w", err)
	}

	if l := len(doc.Content); l != 1 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected error during yaml decode: doc has multiple children of len %d", l)
	}
	root := doc.Content[0]

	// get all nodes
	nodeVals := map[string]*yaml.Node{}
	if err := traverseNode("", root, nodeVals); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error traversing yaml node: %w", err)
	}

	// get all node values
	structVals := map[string]any{}
	traverseConfig("", conf, structVals)

	// apply values to nodes

View on GitHub (pinned to c3a5f9184d)

Solutions

1. Validate the file locally: `python -c 'import yaml,sys; yaml.safe_load(open("embedded/defaults/colima.yaml"))'` or any YAML linter, then fix the syntax error it reports
2. Revert local edits to embedded/defaults/colima.yaml and change defaults via colima's config layer instead
3. Reinstall the stock binary if you did not build it yourself
4. Add a CI test that yaml.Unmarshal's the embedded asset on every commit

Example fix

# embedded/defaults/colima.yaml (before) — tab indentation breaks YAML
vm:
	cpu: 4

# after
vm:
  cpu: 4

// CI guard for forks: embedded defaults must stay valid YAML
func TestEmbeddedDefaultsAreValidYAML(t *testing.T) {
    b, err := embedded.Read("defaults/colima.yaml")
    if err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }
    var doc yaml.Node
    if err := yaml.Unmarshal(b, &doc); err != nil { t.Fatalf("defaults broken: %v", err) }
}

if err := util.Save(cfg, file); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "invalid yaml") {
        // the binary's embedded asset is corrupt: reinstall, don't retry
        return fmt.Errorf("colima binary corrupted — reinstall: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: A fork edit to embedded/defaults/colima.yaml introduced invalid YAML (e.g. a tab, an unterminated string) and the binary was rebuilt; a corrupted embedded FS produced garbage bytes.

Common situations: Fork maintainers tweaking default settings directly in the embedded template; merge conflicts resolved badly in the defaults file; encoding changes (BOM, CRLF) introduced by editors breaking strict YAML.

Related errors

• unexpected error during yaml decode: doc has multiple childr
• error traversing yaml node: %w
• config load failed: %w
• error reading config file: %w
• unexpected error during yaml node traversal: %w

AI-assisted analysis of abiosoft/colima@c3a5f9184d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4fed601fe27846a3. Report an issue: GitHub.