astrid-runtime/astrid · error

Cargo include table must contain a string path in {}

Error message

Cargo include table must contain a string path in {}

What it means

When parsing an inline `[include]` table inside .cargo/config.toml (toml_edit path), the `path` key must be a TOML string. cargo_config_includes throws this if the table exists but `path` is missing or is not a string.

Source

Thrown at crates/astrid-build/src/rust/config.rs:231

    let Some(item) = doc.get("include") else {
        return Ok(Vec::new());
    };

    if let Some(value) = item.as_str() {
        return Ok(vec![resolve_cargo_config_include(path, value, false)?]);
    }
    if let Some(array) = item.as_array() {
        return array
            .iter()
            .map(|value| {
                if let Some(include) = value.as_str() {
                    Ok(resolve_cargo_config_include(path, include, false)?)
                } else if let Some(table) = value.as_inline_table() {
                    let include = table
                        .get("path")
                        .and_then(toml_edit::Value::as_str)
                        .ok_or_else(|| {
                            anyhow::anyhow!(
                                "Cargo include table must contain a string path in {}",
                                path.display()
                            )
                        })?;
                    let optional = match table.get("optional") {
                        None => false,
                        Some(value) => value.as_bool().ok_or_else(|| {
                            anyhow::anyhow!(
                                "Cargo include optional must be a boolean in {}",
                                path.display()
                            )
                        })?,
                    };
                    Ok(resolve_cargo_config_include(path, include, optional)?)
                } else {
                    bail!(
                        "Cargo include array contains a non-string or non-table value in {}",
                        path.display()

View on GitHub (pinned to affd8760f4)

Solutions

1. Add a string `path` key to the include table
2. Quote the path value: `path = "path/to/config.toml"`
3. Remove non-string values from the path field
4. Validate the config with a TOML linter before building

Example fix

# before
include = { optional = true }
# after
include = { path = ".cargo/extra.toml", optional = true }

fn validate_inline_include(t: &toml::Value) -> Result<(), String> {
    t.get("path").and_then(|p| p.as_str())
        .map(|_| ())
        .ok_or_else(|| "include table requires a string `path`".into())
}

fn has_string_path(t: &toml::Value) -> bool {
    t.get("path").and_then(toml::Value::as_str).is_some()
}

match load_content(...) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("must contain a string path") => {
        eprintln!("fix the include table in your .cargo/config.toml");
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: load_content parsing a config file containing an inline include table like `include = { path = 123 }` or `include = { optional = true }` with no `path` key, at the inline-table branch of cargo_config_includes.

Common situations: Hand-edited .cargo/config.toml where the path value was quoted wrongly, wrapped in a non-string type, or accidentally deleted; copy-paste of TOML snippets between formats.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is required", "must be set", "missing required field": configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 36 libraries.

Related errors

• Cargo include optional must be a boolean in {}
• capsule archive entry '{requested}' is not a regular file
• invalid value for {capsule_id}.{key}: expected one of {}, go
• existing [security.capsule_local_egress].{capsule_id} is not
• signed Distro member '{}' must resolve to a prebuilt .capsul

AI-assisted analysis of astrid-runtime/astrid@affd8760f4 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d20dd04d55e6d58. Report an issue: GitHub.