invites.issuers is non-empty but invites.default-group is…

Error message

invites.issuers is non-empty but invites.default-group is unset — either configure both or remove the [invites] section

What it means

The [invites] block in a distro manifest must be coherent: if issuers is non-empty, default-group must also be set, because issued invites need a target group. validate_manifest enforces this fail-fast to catch typos before the kernel caps issuance at runtime.

Solutions

Set `default-group = "<group>"` under [invites].
Or remove the issuers entries if invites should not be issued.
Or delete the entire [invites] section if invite support is not wanted.

Example fix

// before
[invites]
issuers = ["alice"]

// after
[invites]
issuers = ["alice"]
default-group = "members"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

fn invites_coherent(invites: &Invites) -> Result<(), String> {
    if !invites.issuers.is_empty() && invites.default_group.is_none() {
        return Err("issuers set without default-group".into());
    }
    Ok(())
}

Type guard

fn invites_block_ok(i: &Invites) -> bool {
    i.issuers.is_empty() || i.default_group.is_some()
}

Try / catch

if let Some(invites) = &manifest.invites {
    if let Err(e) = invites_coherent(invites) {
        eprintln!("[invites]: {e}");
        std::process::exit(1);
    }
}

Prevention

Treat [invites] as all-or-nothing: configure issuers and default-group in the same change.
Copy the full [invites] example from docs, not fragments.
Run distro validation in CI so partial invite config fails fast.

When it happens

Trigger: A manifest with `[invites]` containing one or more issuers but no `default-group` key. Detected during any distro manifest validation.

Common situations: Partially configured invite support — the author listed issuers then stopped before setting default-group; renamed/removed the default-group key by mistake; copied a partial [invites] snippet from docs.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of astrid-runtime/astrid@affd8760f4 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7bde57c583fa7789. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/astrid-cli/src/commands/distro/validate.rs:218

    for cap in &manifest.capsules {
        for (key, value) in &cap.env {
            for var_ref in extract_variable_refs(value) {
                if !defined_vars.contains(var_ref) {
                    anyhow::bail!(
                        "capsule '{}' env.{key} references undefined variable '{{{{ {var_ref} }}}}'",
                        cap.name,
                    );
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // Invite policy — additive, so the rule is "if any field is set,
    // the shape must be coherent". The kernel still cap-gates issuance
    // at runtime; this is fail-fast for typos.
    if let Some(invites) = &manifest.invites {
        if !invites.issuers.is_empty() && invites.default_group.is_none() {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "invites.issuers is non-empty but invites.default-group is unset — \
                 either configure both or remove the [invites] section"
            );
        }
        if let Some(exp) = &invites.default_expires {
            parse_invite_duration(exp).map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!(e))?;
        }
        if let Some(cap) = &invites.max_principals
            && cap != "unlimited"
            && cap.parse::<u32>().is_err()
        {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "invites.max-principals must be \"unlimited\" or a non-negative integer (got {cap:?})",
            );
        }
    }

    // Branding — only structural rails. The dashboard interprets the

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