glanceapp/glance · error

unknown widget type: %s

Error message

unknown widget type: %s

What it means

newWidget() fell through its type switch: the string in a widget block's type field matches no supported widget type. The listed value is echoed back so the typo is identifiable directly from the error.

Source

Thrown at internal/glance/widget.go:85

		w = &searchWidget{}
	case "extension":
		w = &extensionWidget{}
	case "group":
		w = &groupWidget{}
	case "dns-stats":
		w = &dnsStatsWidget{}
	case "split-column":
		w = &splitColumnWidget{}
	case "custom-api":
		w = &customAPIWidget{}
	case "docker-containers":
		w = &dockerContainersWidget{}
	case "server-stats":
		w = &serverStatsWidget{}
	case "to-do":
		w = &todoWidget{}
	default:
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown widget type: %s", widgetType)
	}

	w.setID(widgetIDCounter.Add(1))

	return w, nil
}

type widgets []widget

func (w *widgets) UnmarshalYAML(node *yaml.Node) error {
	var nodes []yaml.Node

	if err := node.Decode(&nodes); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	for _, node := range nodes {
		meta := struct {

View on GitHub (pinned to 91324e8de7)

Solutions

1. Compare the echoed type against the widget names in the switch statement in internal/glance/widget.go or the docs
2. Fix the spelling/casing in glance.yml — values are lowercase-hyphenated
3. If the widget was renamed across versions, update the config to the new name from the changelog

Example fix

# before
- type: wether

# after
- type: weather

// Validate widget types against the known set before starting Glance
var knownWidgetTypes = map[string]bool{
    "weather": true, "videos": true, "twitch-channels": true /* ... full list from widget.go */,
}

func validWidgetType(t string) bool { return knownWidgetTypes[t] }

func isUnknownWidgetType(err error) bool {
	return err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "unknown widget type")
}

w, err := newWidget(cfg.Type)
if isUnknownWidgetType(err) {
    // fail config validation with the offending type name; do not silently skip
    return fmt.Errorf("page %q: %w", pageName, err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: A glance.yml page containing a widget whose type is misspelled ('wether'), uses a legacy name removed in a version upgrade, or references a widget compiled out of the build.

Common situations: Typos; upgrading Glance and a widget was renamed (config from an older release); community configs referencing custom widget builds.

Related errors

• widget 'type' property is empty or not specified
• URL is required
• nested groups are not supported
• split columns inside of groups are not supported
• source is required

AI-assisted analysis of glanceapp/glance@91324e8de7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76155ce5f2f0bc11. Report an issue: GitHub.