alibaba/open-code-review · error

create config dir: %w

Error message

create config dir: %w

What it means

saveConfig creates the parent directory of the config file with os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755) before writing; if that fails the error is wrapped as "create config dir". This is an I/O/permission failure on the filesystem, raised before any JSON is produced.

Source

Thrown at cmd/opencodereview/provider_cmd.go:422

		if !llm.ModelListContains(registryModels, selectedModel) {
			entry.Models = ensureModelInList(entry.Models, selectedModel)
		}
		cfg.Providers[cfg.Provider] = entry
	}
	cfg.Model = selectedModel

	if err := saveConfig(configPath, cfg); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	fmt.Printf("\nModel set to: %s\n", selectedModel)
	return nil
}

func saveConfig(path string, cfg *Config) error {
	dir := filepath.Dir(path)
	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("create config dir: %w", err)
	}
	data, err := json.MarshalIndent(cfg, "", "    ")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("marshal config: %w", err)
	}
	if err := os.WriteFile(path, data, 0o600); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("write config: %w", err)
	}
	if err := os.Chmod(path, 0o600); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("chmod config: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

func maskKey(key string) string {
	if key == "" {
		return "(not set)"
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5cf97d0d15)

Solutions

1. Check permissions on the parent directory and ensure the user can create the config dir
2. Ensure the config path's parent is a directory, not an existing file
3. Fix HOME/XDG or pass a config path in a writable location
4. Free disk space if the filesystem is full

Example fix

// before
OCR_CONFIG=/etc/ocr/config.json ocr config set provider openai
// error: create config dir: mkdir /etc/ocr: permission denied
// after
OCR_CONFIG=~/.config/ocr/config.json ocr config set provider openai

dir := filepath.Dir(cfgPath)
if info, err := os.Stat(dir); err == nil && !info.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("%s exists and is not a directory", dir)
}
if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("cannot create config dir %s: %w", dir, err)
}

if err := saveConfig(path, cfg); err != nil {
    var pe *os.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) && errors.Is(pe.Err, fs.ErrPermission) {
        fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "no permission for %s — check ownership/HOME\n", path)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling saveConfig (via ocr config set, unset commands, or the provider/model TUIs) when the config directory cannot be created — e.g. path is inside a read-only directory, a file exists where a directory is expected, or permission is denied.

Common situations: HOME set to a non-writable path; config path pointing under a file like /etc/passwd/config.json; disk full or sandboxed CI runners with restricted write access.

Understand the failure class

Background: mkdir permission denied (EACCES): failed to create directory errors explained — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• load config: %w
• write config: %w
• read global rule %s: %w
• read project rule %s: %w
• chmod config: %w

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/open-code-review@5cf97d0d15 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/be25d0dcf4d18db0. Report an issue: GitHub.