gitbutlerapp/gitbutler · error · anyhow::Error

Preferred GitHub account '{account}' has not authenticated y

Error message

Preferred GitHub account '{account}' has not authenticated yet.\nRun 'but config forge auth' to authenticate, or choose another account.

What it means

A preferred GitHub account was passed to resolve_account, but it is not among the known (stored) authenticated accounts, so it cannot be used. The default - the first known account - is only chosen when no preference is expressed.

Source

Thrown at crates/but-github/src/client.rs:1977

        }
    }
}

pub(crate) fn resolve_account(
    preferred_account: Option<&crate::GithubAccountIdentifier>,
    storage: &but_forge_storage::Controller,
) -> Result<crate::GithubAccountIdentifier, anyhow::Error> {
    let known_accounts = crate::token::list_known_github_accounts(storage)?;
    let Some(default_account) = known_accounts.first() else {
        bail!(
            "No authenticated GitHub users found.\nRun 'but config forge auth' to authenticate with GitHub."
        );
    };
    let account = if let Some(account) = preferred_account {
        if known_accounts.contains(account) {
            account
        } else {
            bail!(
                "Preferred GitHub account '{account}' has not authenticated yet.\nRun 'but config forge auth' to authenticate, or choose another account."
            );
        }
    } else {
        default_account
    };

    Ok(account.to_owned())
}

#[derive(Serialize)]
struct CheckRunsQuery<'a> {
    filter: &'a str,
    per_page: usize,
    page: usize,
}

/// Render a failed response as `<status>: <body>` so GitHub's error message reaches the user.

View on GitHub (pinned to caf1f223d3)

Solutions

Authenticate that account: `but config forge auth`
Or clear/change the preferred-account setting so the default known account is used
Make sure the identifier matches exactly what was stored during authentication

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

let known = crate::token::list_known_github_accounts(storage)?;
if let Some(preferred) = &preferred_account {
    if !known.contains(preferred) {
        anyhow::bail!("account {preferred} not authenticated - run `but config forge auth`");
    }
}

Type guard

fn account_is_known(account: &GithubAccountIdentifier, known: &[GithubAccountIdentifier]) -> bool {
    known.contains(account)
}

Try / catch

match do_forge_operation().await {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("has not authenticated yet") => {
        clear_preferred_account_and_use_default()
    }
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Validate the preferred-account setting against stored accounts at startup
Use the exact identifier produced by authentication
Re-authenticate after switching or renaming GitHub accounts

When it happens

Trigger: A config entry or CLI flag names an account that never authenticated on this machine; the account was removed via logout; the identifier's casing or format differs from what was stored; the signed-in user changed.

Common situations: Multi-account setups; configs synced to a machine where only another account authenticated; GitHub username changes.

Understand the failure class

Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of gitbutlerapp/gitbutler@caf1f223d3 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cc21d0aa0bd46cb9. Report an issue: GitHub.