crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

unknown configuration type '%s'

Error message

unknown configuration type '%s'

What it means

After splitting a hub path, the first segment must be one of the known hub item types in cwhub.ItemTypes (parsers, scenarios, postoverflows, collections, etc.). If subs[0] is not a recognized type, the file sits under a directory that is not a valid hub type and the item spec cannot be built. The code comments that this 'doesn't really happen anymore' because only {hubtype} directories are scanned, but it remains a guard.

Source

Thrown at pkg/cwhub/sync.go:46

	ftype   string // type, plural (collections, contexts etc.)
	fauthor string // author - empty for local items
	inhub   bool   // true if the spec comes from the hub dir
	target  string // the target of path if it's a link, otherwise == path
	local   bool   // is this a spec for a local item?
}

func newHubItemSpec(path string, subs []string) (*itemSpec, error) {
	// .../hub/parsers/s00-raw/crowdsecurity/skip-pretag.yaml
	// .../hub/scenarios/crowdsecurity/ssh_bf.yaml
	// .../hub/profiles/crowdsecurity/linux.yaml
	if len(subs) < 3 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("path is too short: %s (%d)", path, len(subs))
	}

	ftype := subs[0]
	if !slices.Contains(ItemTypes, ftype) {
		// this doesn't really happen anymore, because we only scan the {hubtype} directories
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown configuration type '%s'", ftype)
	}

	stage := ""
	fauthor := subs[1]
	fname := subs[2]

	if ftype == PARSERS || ftype == POSTOVERFLOWS {
		if len(subs) < 4 {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("path is too short: %s (%d)", path, len(subs))
		}

		stage = subs[1]
		fauthor = subs[2]
		fname = subs[3]
	}

	spec := itemSpec{
		path:    path,

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Rename the directory to a valid hub type (parsers, parsers/s00-raw, scenarios, postoverflows, collections, alerts, appsec-configs, appsec-rules, contexts, etc.)
2. Move non-hub files out of the hub directory into your configuration directory
3. Run 'cscli hub update' so the local hub tree matches the expected upstream layout

Example fix

// before: hub/parser/crowdsecurity/foo.yaml (invalid type dir)
mv /etc/crowdsec/hub/parser /tmp/stray
// after: no unknown type directories under hub/, local files live in the config dir

validTypes := map[string]bool{
	"parsers": true, "postoverflows": true, "scenarios": true,
	"collections": true, "appsec-configs": true, "appsec-rules": true,
	"contexts": true,
}
firstDir := firstSegmentAfter(hubDir, file)
if !validTypes[firstDir] {
	return fmt.Errorf("%q is not a hub type dir; move the file", firstDir)
}

if err := hub.Load(ctx); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unknown configuration type") {
		log.Warnf("stray directory under hub dir: %v", err)
		return nil
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Hub.Load/localSync when the scanned hub directory tree contains a subdirectory whose name is not in ItemTypes, and a file is found beneath it.

Common situations: Creating a custom directory under the hub dir (e.g. hub/myfiles/foo.yaml); typos in a manually created type directory ('parser' instead of 'parsers'); stale directories from an older hub layout that were renamed upstream.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• invalid auth_type: must be one of basic_auth, headers, mtls
• no parser found. Please install the appropriate parser and r
• path is too short: %s (%d)
• file '%s' is not from hub '%s' nor from the configuration di
• %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ab860eafe21361c5. Report an issue: GitHub.