cline/cline · error

Failed to parse YAML frontmatter: ${parseError}

Error message

Failed to parse YAML frontmatter: ${parseError}

What it means

Error "Failed to parse YAML frontmatter: ${parseError}" thrown in cline/cline.

Source

Thrown at sdk/packages/core/src/extensions/config/user-instruction-config-loader.ts:294

		resolve(context.filePath) === resolve(workspacePath, AGENTS_RULES_FILE_NAME)
	) {
		return "Workspace AGENTS.md";
	}

	if (resolve(context.filePath) === resolve(resolveGlobalAgentsRulesPath())) {
		return "Global AGENTS.md";
	}

	return basename(context.filePath, extname(context.filePath));
}

export function parseSkillConfigFromMarkdown(
	content: string,
	fallbackName: string,
): SkillConfig {
	const { data, body, parseError } = parseMarkdownFrontmatter(content);
	if (parseError) {
		throw new Error(`Failed to parse YAML frontmatter: ${parseError}`);
	}
	const instructions = body.trim();
	if (!instructions) {
		throw new Error("Missing instructions body in skill file.");
	}
	const parsedName = parseStringField(data.name, "name", false);
	const name = parsedName ?? fallbackName.trim();
	if (!name) {
		throw new Error("Missing skill name.");
	}

	return {
		name,
		description: parseStringField(data.description, "description", false),
		disabled:
			parseBooleanField(data.disabled, "disabled") ??
			(parseBooleanField(data.enabled, "enabled") === false ? true : undefined),
		instructions,

View on GitHub (pinned to 491b30b806)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at sdk/packages/core/src/extensions/config/user-instruction-config-loader.ts:294 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of cline/cline@491b30b806 (2026-08-25). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d6aa77d902734976. Report an issue: GitHub.