charmbracelet/vhs · error · parser.Error

"${marginFill}" is not a valid color.

Error message

"${marginFill}" is not a valid color.

What it means

Fires in parseSet when the MarginFill value starts with '#' but is not a valid hex color: strconv.ParseUint of the hex digits fails or the string is not exactly 7 characters (#RRGGBB). Values not starting with '#' (named colors) skip this check entirely.

Source

Thrown at parser/parser.go:511

				NewError(p.cur, windowBar+" is not a valid bar style."),
			)
		}
	case token.MARGIN_FILL:
		cmd.Args = p.peek.Literal
		p.nextToken()

		marginFill := p.cur.Literal

		// Check if margin color is a valid hex string
		if strings.HasPrefix(marginFill, "#") {
			_, err := strconv.ParseUint(marginFill[1:], 16, 64)

			if err != nil || len(marginFill) != 7 {
				p.errors = append(
					p.errors,
					NewError(
						p.cur,
						"\""+marginFill+"\" is not a valid color.",
					),
				)
			}
		}
	case token.CURSOR_BLINK:
		cmd.Args = p.peek.Literal
		p.nextToken()

		if p.cur.Type != token.BOOLEAN {
			p.errors = append(
				p.errors,
				NewError(p.cur, "expected boolean value."),
			)
		}

	default:
		cmd.Args = p.peek.Literal
		p.nextToken()

View on GitHub (pinned to c073383b5d)

Solutions

1. Use a full 6-digit hex color, e.g. #1D2B53 (7 chars including the #)
2. Remove stray characters after the hex digits
3. Use a named color string without '#' if supported

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at parser/parser.go:511 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of charmbracelet/vhs@c073383b5d (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c0cb60ca82f72fa6. Report an issue: GitHub.