What causes "global provider %q not found" in chenhg5/cc-connect?

Re-add the [[providers]] block with name = " " so the ref resolves

global provider %q not found

Error message

global provider %q not found

What it means

When the provider is handled through provider_refs, patchGlobalProviderField scans raw [[providers]] table headers in the file to find and edit the matching global provider. If no global [[providers]] block matches providerName, the ref is dangling and this error is returned, leaving the file untouched.

Source

Thrown at config/config.go:1288

	for k, gp := range cfg.Providers {
		if gp.Name != providerName || k >= len(globalStarts) {
			continue
		}
		gstart := globalStarts[k]
		gend := len(lines) - 1
		if k+1 < len(globalStarts) {
			gend = globalStarts[k+1] - 1
		}
		for j := gstart + 1; j <= gend; j++ {
			if isAnyTableHeader(lines[j]) {
				gend = j - 1
				break
			}
		}
		lines = upsertTomlStringKey(lines, gstart+1, gend, key, value)
		return writeRawConfig(joinConfigLines(lines, hadTrailing))
	}
	return fmt.Errorf("global provider %q not found", providerName)
}

// SaveAgentModel persists the selected default model for a project's agent.
// It uses surgical text editing to preserve comments and unknown fields.
func SaveAgentModel(projectName, model string) error {
	configMu.Lock()
	defer configMu.Unlock()
	return patchProjectAgentOption(projectName, "model", model)
}

// AddProviderToConfig adds a provider to a project's agent config and saves.
func AddProviderToConfig(projectName string, provider ProviderConfig) error {
	configMu.Lock()
	defer configMu.Unlock()
	if ConfigPath == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("config path not set")
	}
	data, err := os.ReadFile(ConfigPath)

View on GitHub (pinned to 4000b2338a)

Solutions

Re-add the [[providers]] block with name = "<providerName>" so the ref resolves
Remove the dangling entry from provider_refs in the project
Fix the ref/provider name spelling so they match exactly

Example fix

// before
provider_refs = ["glm"]  # no [providers] block for glm
// after
provider_refs = ["kimi"]

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

refs := proj.Agent.ProviderRefs
globals := map[string]bool{}
for _, g := range cfg.Providers { globals[g.Name] = true }
for _, r := range refs {
	if !globals[r] { return fmt.Errorf("dangling provider_ref %q", r) }
}

Try / catch

if err := config.SaveProviderModel(proj, prov, model); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "global provider") {
		// remove the dangling ref or restore the [[providers]] block
	}
	return err
}

Prevention

Never delete a [[providers]] block without pruning provider_refs
Validate refs against global providers at config load time
Comment each [[providers]] block with the projects that reference it

When it happens

Trigger: A project's provider_refs lists a name, SaveProviderModel delegates to patchGlobalProviderField, but no [[providers]] table with name = providerName exists in the file — the ref points at a removed or never-defined global provider.

Common situations: Deleting a [[providers]] block without cleaning provider_refs; renaming a global provider; sharing a config template where the referenced global provider was stripped.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of chenhg5/cc-connect@4000b2338a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eb1b08113a558c64. Report an issue: GitHub.