felixse/FluentTerminal · error · ParseThemeException

Color node was not a dictionary

Error message

Color node was not a dictionary

What it means

Thrown inside GetColorString when an individual color entry (e.g. "Ansi 0 Color", "Background Color") is not itself a DictionaryNode. In iTerm themes each color is a dictionary containing "Red Component", "Green Component", "Blue Component" keys. If the entry is a scalar RealNode, string, or data node, the `colorNode as DictionaryNode` cast is null and ParseThemeException is thrown.

Source

Thrown at FluentTerminal.App.Services/Implementation/ITermThemeParser.cs:110

                Yellow = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi3Color]),
                Blue = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi4Color]),
                Magenta = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi5Color]),
                Cyan = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi6Color]),
                White = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi7Color]),
                BrightBlack = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi8Color]),
                BrightRed = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi9Color]),
                BrightGreen = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi10Color]),
                BrightYellow = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi11Color]),
                BrightBlue = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi12Color]),
                BrightMagenta = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi13Color]),
                BrightCyan = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi14Color]),
                BrightWhite = GetColorString(themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.Ansi15Color]),
            };
        }

        private string GetColorString(PNode colorNode, byte alpha = Byte.MaxValue)
        {
            var dictionaryNode = colorNode as DictionaryNode ?? throw new ParseThemeException("Color node was not a dictionary");

            var red = dictionaryNode[ITermThemeColorKeys.RedComponent] as RealNode ?? throw new ParseThemeException("Red node value was not a real number");
            var green = dictionaryNode[ITermThemeColorKeys.GreenComponent] as RealNode ?? throw new ParseThemeException("Green node value was not a real number");
            var blue = dictionaryNode[ITermThemeColorKeys.BlueComponent] as RealNode ?? throw new ParseThemeException("Blue node value was not a real number");

            if (alpha == byte.MaxValue)
            {
                return $"#{GetByteValue(red):X2}{GetByteValue(green):X2}{GetByteValue(blue):X2}";
            }
            else
            {
                return $"rgba({GetByteValue(red):G}, {GetByteValue(green):G}, {GetByteValue(blue):G}, {ToDoubleString(alpha)})";
            }
        }

        private byte GetByteValue(RealNode node)
        {
            var doubleValue = node.Value * Byte.MaxValue;

View on GitHub (pinned to ba83ec485e)

Solutions

1. Open the .itermcolors file and verify every "Ansi N Color" / "Background Color" / "Foreground Color" entry is a <dict> containing Red/Green/Blue Component keys.
2. Re-export the theme from iTerm2 to regenerate the correct nested-dict structure.
3. Catch ParseThemeException at the call site and report which theme failed so the user can replace it.

Example fix

// before
var dictionaryNode = colorNode as DictionaryNode ?? throw new ParseThemeException("Color node was not a dictionary");

// after - tolerate scalar colors and skip, logging the bad entry
if (!(colorNode is DictionaryNode dictionaryNode))
    throw new ParseThemeException($"Color node was not a dictionary (got {colorNode?.GetType().Name})");

// After loading the root dict, check each color entry is a dict before GetColorString.
foreach (var key in new[] { "Background Color", "Ansi 0 Color" /*...*/ })
{
    if (node[key] is PListNet.Nodes.DictionaryNode)
        continue;
    return Task.FromException<TerminalTheme>(new ParseThemeException($"{key} is not a dictionary"));
}

static bool IsColorDictionary(PNode n) => n is PListNet.Nodes.DictionaryNode d
    && d.ContainsKey("Red Component") && d.ContainsKey("Green Component") && d.ContainsKey("Blue Component");

try { theme = await parser.Parse(name, stream); }
catch (ParseThemeException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("Color node"))
{ notifyUser("Theme has a malformed color entry."); }

When it happens

Trigger: GetColors iterates every themeDictionary[ITermThemeKeys.*] color key and calls GetColorString. If any single color entry is a plain number/string instead of a dict (e.g. someone replaced a color sub-dict with a hex string "#ff0000"), the cast fails.

Common situations: Theme was converted by a tool that flattened colors to scalar hex strings; a manually edited plist where one color entry lost its nested <dict>; a partially-compatible iTerm theme variant.

Related errors

• Root node was not a dictionary.
• Red node value was not a real number
• Green node value was not a real number
• UserInfo part contains {parts.Length} elements.
• Invalid link.

AI-assisted analysis of felixse/FluentTerminal@ba83ec485e (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7817ef8cea248a1c. Report an issue: GitHub.