gitui-org/gitui · error · anyhow::Error

editor env variable found empty: {}

Error message

editor env variable found empty: {}

What it means

gitui picks the external editor from a chain of environment options (GIT_EDITOR-class, then EDITOR, then VISUAL) and falls back to vi only when none are SET. If a variable is set but to an empty string, env::var returns Ok(""), the fallback never engages, and the peekable char iterator over the value is empty - .peek() yields None and this error names the offending variables (joined with ' or ').

Source

Thrown at src/popups/externaleditor.rs:89

		let editor = env::var(environment_options[0])
			.ok()
			.or_else(|| {
				get_config_string(repo, "core.editor").ok()?
			})
			.or_else(|| env::var(environment_options[1]).ok())
			.or_else(|| env::var(environment_options[2]).ok())
			.unwrap_or_else(|| String::from("vi"));

		// TODO: proper handling arguments containing whitespaces
		// This does not do the right thing if the input is `editor --something "with spaces"`

		// deal with "editor name with spaces" p1 p2 p3
		// and with "editor_no_spaces" p1 p2 p3
		// does not address spaces in pn
		let mut echars = editor.chars().peekable();

		let first_char = *echars.peek().ok_or_else(|| {
			anyhow!(
				"editor env variable found empty: {}",
				environment_options.join(" or ")
			)
		})?;
		let command: String = if first_char == '\"' {
			echars
				.by_ref()
				.skip(1)
				.take_while(|c| *c != '\"')
				.collect()
		} else {
			echars.by_ref().take_while(|c| *c != ' ').collect()
		};

		let remainder_str = echars.collect::<String>();
		let remainder = remainder_str.split_whitespace();

		let mut args: Vec<&OsStr> =

View on GitHub (pinned to 2fa693cb6e)

Solutions

1. Unset the variable (unset EDITOR VISUAL) so gitui's vi fallback engages, or set it to a real editor (export EDITOR=nvim).
2. Audit shell rc files, Dockerfile ENV lines, and CI variable blocks for editor variables assigned empty strings.
3. If 'no editor' is intentional for your workflow, remap gitui's edit keys in key_config.ron instead of blanking EDITOR.

Example fix

# Dockerfile
# before
ENV EDITOR=""
# after: drop the line entirely, or
ENV EDITOR=vim

// Rust callers: filter empties so fallbacks work
// before
let editor = env::var("EDITOR").ok().unwrap_or_else(|| "vi".into());
// after
let editor = env::var("EDITOR").ok().filter(|e| !e.is_empty())
    .unwrap_or_else(|| "vi".into());

# shell: make the vi fallback reachable when 'set but empty'
[ "${EDITOR:-}" ] || unset EDITOR
[ "${VISUAL:-}" ] || unset VISUAL

// Rust: filter empties when reading env vars with fallbacks
env::var("EDITOR").ok().filter(|v| !v.is_empty())
    .or_else(|| env::var("VISUAL").ok().filter(|v| !v.is_empty()))
    .unwrap_or_else(|| "vi".into())

When it happens

Trigger: export EDITOR="" or VISUAL="" surviving into gitui's environment; container images that define EDITOR as empty to 'disable editors'; a shell rc exporting ${SOME_UNSET_VAR}, which expands to an empty string.

Common situations: Hardened no-editor container policies; miswritten dotfiles; variables inherited empty from a parent process or CI template.

Related errors

• failed to find os config dir.
• "{command}": {e}

AI-assisted analysis of gitui-org/gitui@2fa693cb6e (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/be06cb8ecf1f9c8c. Report an issue: GitHub.