alibaba/open-code-review · error

load rules: %w

Error message

load rules: %w

What it means

loadCommonContext wraps a failure from rules.NewResolver, which builds the rule resolver/file filter for the run (optionally reading rules from a git ref via gitRunner). Causes include: the rules file/pattern doesn't exist or is unreadable, rule syntax is invalid, or the git ref operation failed when Ref is set.

Source

Thrown at cmd/opencodereview/shared.go:117

	if err := tpl.Validate(); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid config: %w", err)
	}

	repoDir, isGit, err := resolveWorkingDir(repoDirInput, requireGit)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	// Built before the resolver: the sniffer reads file content at contentRef
	// through this limiter.
	gitRunner := gitcmd.New(maxGitProcs)

	resolver, fileFilter, err := rules.NewResolver(repoDir, rulePath, rules.ResolverOptions{
		Ref:    contentRef,
		Runner: gitRunner,
	})
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("load rules: %w", err)
	}

	return &commonContext{
		Template:   tpl,
		RepoDir:    repoDir,
		Resolver:   resolver,
		FileFilter: fileFilter,
		GitRunner:  gitRunner,
		IsGitRepo:  isGit,
	}, nil
}

// resolveWorkingDir returns (absPath, isGitRepo, err). When requireGit is
// true, returns an error if the directory is not a git repo. When false,
// returns IsGitRepo=false instead of erroring (scan path uses this).
func resolveWorkingDir(input string, requireGit bool) (string, bool, error) {
	if input == "" {
		wd, err := os.Getwd()

View on GitHub (pinned to 5cf97d0d15)

Solutions

1. Check the rules path exists and parses; fix or remove invalid rule definitions
2. If resolving rules at a ref, confirm the ref/commit exists (`git rev-parse <ref>`) and you are inside the repo
3. Run without a custom --rules flag to isolate whether default rules or your file is the problem

Example fix

// before
ocr review --rules ./missing-rules.yaml
// after
ocr review --rules ./config/review-rules.yaml   # existing, valid file

// check rules target before running
if _, err := os.Stat(rulePath); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("rules file missing: %w", err)
}
if contentRef != "" {
    if err := exec.Command("git", "rev-parse", "--verify", contentRef).Run(); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("ref %q not found", contentRef)
    }
}

resolver, _, err := rules.NewResolver(repoDir, rulePath, opts)
if err != nil {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("load rules: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --rules pointing at a missing/malformed file; running with contentRef set where the git ref/commit doesn't exist or git isn't available in the repo; a rules directory with an invalid rule definition.

Common situations: Typo in the rules path; rules file edited and broken; scanning an older commit whose rules file differs; running outside a git repo while rules resolution requires git.

Related errors

• MCP server %q not found
• custom provider %q not found
• parse config: %w
• read app config %s: %w
• parse app config: %w

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/open-code-review@5cf97d0d15 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a8fee5f82d96ab1f. Report an issue: GitHub.