continuedev/continue · error · Error

Failed to parse config: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e

Error message

Failed to parse config: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}

What it means

Catch-all branch of parseConfigYaml: the YAML string threw something that is neither the internal success:false error nor a ZodError (could be a non-Error throw). The message stringifies whatever was thrown.

Source

Thrown at packages/config-yaml/src/load/unroll.ts:53

    const result = configYamlSchema.safeParse(parsed);
    if (result.success) {
      return result.data;
    }

    throw new Error(formatZodError(result.error), {
      cause: "result.success was false",
    });
  } catch (e) {
    if (
      e instanceof Error &&
      "cause" in e &&
      e.cause === "result.success was false"
    ) {
      throw new Error(`Failed to parse config: ${e.message}`);
    } else if (e instanceof ZodError) {
      throw new Error(`Failed to parse config: ${formatZodError(e)}`);
    } else {
      throw new Error(
        `Failed to parse config: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}`,
      );
    }
  }
}

export function parseAssistantUnrolled(configYaml: string): AssistantUnrolled {
  try {
    const parsed = YAML.parse(configYaml);
    const result = assistantUnrolledSchema.parse(parsed);
    return result;
  } catch (e: any) {
    console.error(
      `Failed to parse unrolled assistant: ${e.message}\n\n${configYaml}`,
    );
    throw new Error(`Failed to parse config: ${formatZodError(e)}`);
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5522c6f44c)

Solutions

1. Log the full stringified throw value for identification
2. Ensure the input is a clean UTF-8 string (strip BOM)
3. Reproduce with YAML.parse directly to isolate whether the fault is in the YAML library or this wrapper

// Sanitize input before parsing
const clean = configYaml.replace(/^\uFEFF/, ''); // strip BOM

try {
  parseConfigYaml(yaml);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Failed to parse config:')) {
    console.error('Raw cause:', e.message);
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: YAML.parse throwing an unexpected error type, or a non-Error value (string/undefined) being thrown during parsing/unrolling.

Common situations: BOM or encoding issues in the file, undefined being thrown from a custom parser hook, circular references in YAML anchors.

Understand the failure class

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

Related errors

• Failed to parse config: ${e.message}
• Error parsing markdown frontmatter:
• Error in BedrockReranker.rerank: Unknown error occurred
• Invalid FQSN format: package slug must have two parts
• Failed to parse config: ${formatZodError(e)}

AI-assisted analysis of continuedev/continue@5522c6f44c (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/062e61c416620f45. Report an issue: GitHub.