gastownhall/beads · error

ErrVarValidation

ErrVarValidation

Error message

%w:
  - %s

What it means

ValidateVars() collected one or more per-variable failures from validateVarValue (missing required vars, enum violations, pattern mismatches) and returns them wrapped with the sentinel ErrVarValidation so callers can match with errors.Is. All failures are joined as a bulleted list after a single header line.

Source

Thrown at internal/formula/parser.go:459

// ValidateVars checks that all required variables are provided
// and all values pass their constraints.
func ValidateVars(formula *Formula, values map[string]string) error {
	var errs []string

	for name, def := range formula.Vars {
		val, provided := values[name]

		// Check required
		if def.Required && !provided {
			errs = append(errs, fmt.Sprintf("variable %q is required", name))
			continue
		}

		errs = append(errs, validateVarValue(name, def, val, provided)...)
	}

	if len(errs) > 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("%w:\n  - %s", ErrVarValidation, strings.Join(errs, "\n  - "))
	}

	return nil
}

// ValidateProvidedVars checks enum/pattern/required-empty constraints only
// for variables that are present in values; it does not flag variables that
// are entirely absent. Callers that already surface a more specific
// missing-variable message (e.g. bd mol pour/wisp's hint path) should keep
// using that path for absent vars — this exists so those same callers still
// catch malformed *provided* values, which a presence-only check misses
// (mybd-u2r6).
func ValidateProvidedVars(formula *Formula, values map[string]string) error {
	var errs []string

	for name, def := range formula.Vars {
		val, provided := values[name]
		if !provided {

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read each bullet in the error; supply every missing required var and correct enum/pattern violations in the invocation or defaults.
2. Match errors.Is(err, ErrVarValidation) in your tooling to print a friendly pre-flight message instead of a stack.
3. Update the formula's var defaults or loosen the enum/pattern if the constraint itself is outdated.

Example fix

// before
err := f.ValidateVars(nil) // required vars missing

// after
vars := map[string]string{"env": "prod", "region": "us-east-1"}
if err := f.ValidateVars(vars); err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, ErrVarValidation) { /* show bullets to user */ }
}

// Pre-flight check required vars against their definitions before invoking.
for name, def := range f.Vars {
	if def.Required {
		if _, ok := provided[name]; !ok {
			fmt.Printf("missing required var: %s\n", name)
		}
	}
}

if err := f.ValidateVars(provided); err != nil {
	if errors.Is(err, ErrVarValidation) {
		// print err.Error() verbatim: it already lists each failure as a bullet
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ValidateVars (directly or via formula execution paths) when provided var values violate constraints: a required var is absent, a value is not in the var's enum list, or a value does not match the var's pattern regex.

Common situations: CI invoking a formula without all required vars set in the environment or invocation flags; a var default was removed while callers still omit it; an enum value was renamed upstream; a pattern was tightened and previously-valid input now fails.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• no store is open for this workspace
• not found
• no absolute native user directory is available
• ExternalDoltConfig: set either Socket OR (Host, Port), not b
• ExternalDoltConfig: must set Socket or (Host, Port)

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a6614cbe0c9938d1. Report an issue: GitHub.