charmbracelet/crush · error

failed to set large model: %w

Error message

failed to set large model: %w

What it means

overrideModels (internal/cmd/run.go:509) wraps an error from c.UpdatePreferredModel when persisting the user's --model override (large model) into workspace config. The model string already validated and matched a provider; the failure is in the server-side write.

Source

Thrown at internal/cmd/run.go:509

	providers := cfg.Providers.Copy()

	largeMatches, smallMatches := findModelMatches(providers, largeModel, smallModel)

	var largeProviderID string

	if largeModel != "" {
		found, err := validateModelMatches(largeMatches, largeModel, "large")
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		largeProviderID = found.provider
		slog.Info("Overriding large model", "provider", found.provider, "model", found.modelID)
		if err := c.UpdatePreferredModel(ctx, ws.ID, config.ScopeWorkspace, config.SelectedModelTypeLarge, config.SelectedModel{
			Provider: found.provider,
			Model:    found.modelID,
		}); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to set large model: %w", err)
		}
	}

	switch {
	case smallModel != "":
		found, err := validateModelMatches(smallMatches, smallModel, "small")
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		slog.Info("Overriding small model", "provider", found.provider, "model", found.modelID)
		if err := c.UpdatePreferredModel(ctx, ws.ID, config.ScopeWorkspace, config.SelectedModelTypeSmall, config.SelectedModel{
			Provider: found.provider,
			Model:    found.modelID,
		}); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to set small model: %w", err)
		}

	case largeModel != "":

View on GitHub (pinned to 7944b8e522)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped error to see whether it is a network or HTTP-level failure
2. Retry the command — the write may have failed transiently
3. Verify the provider is enabled and the model still exists server-side
4. Check auth credentials and workspace permissions
5. Inspect server logs for the UpdatePreferredModel request

if err := runNonInteractive(...); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to set large model") {
		// inspect errors.Unwrap(err); retry with backoff on network errors
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: After validateModelMatches succeeds for the large model, c.UpdatePreferredModel(ctx, ws.ID, ScopeWorkspace, SelectedModelTypeLarge, SelectedModel{...}) returns an error: network failure, HTTP error, validation rejection server-side, or canceled context.

Common situations: Server rejects the selected provider/model combination; concurrent config update conflicts; expired auth; connection dropped mid-request; server bug returning 5xx on UpdatePreferredClodel.

Related errors

• failed to set small model: %w
• failed to get config: %w
• failed to read response: %w
• failed to set config field: %w
• failed to remove config field: %w

AI-assisted analysis of charmbracelet/crush@7944b8e522 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84f172f2cd6ba9e4. Report an issue: GitHub.