glanceapp/glance · error · errNoContent

%w: could not create request with repository: %v

Error message

%w: could not create request with repository: %v

What it means

Returned by fetchRepositoryDetailsFromGithub (internal/glance/widget-repository.go:117) when http.NewRequest for GET https://api.github.com/repos/{repo} fails, wrapped in errNoContent. NewRequest only fails on an unparseable URL, which in practice means the configured repository string contains characters that break URL parsing (control characters, spaces in malformed ways). It is a pre-flight config-level failure, not an HTTP failure — those surface later as 130.

Source

Thrown at internal/glance/widget-repository.go:117

		Title     string `json:"title"`
	} `json:"items"`
}

type gitHubCommitResponseJson struct {
	Sha    string `json:"sha"`
	Commit struct {
		Author struct {
			Name string `json:"name"`
			Date string `json:"date"`
		} `json:"author"`
		Message string `json:"message"`
	} `json:"commit"`
}

func fetchRepositoryDetailsFromGithub(repo string, token string, maxPRs int, maxIssues int, maxCommits int) (repository, error) {
	repositoryRequest, err := http.NewRequest("GET", fmt.Sprintf("https://api.github.com/repos/%s", repo), nil)
	if err != nil {
		return repository{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: could not create request with repository: %v", errNoContent, err)
	}

	PRsRequest, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", fmt.Sprintf("https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=is:pr+is:open+repo:%s&per_page=%d", repo, maxPRs), nil)
	issuesRequest, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", fmt.Sprintf("https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=is:issue+is:open+repo:%s&per_page=%d", repo, maxIssues), nil)
	CommitsRequest, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", fmt.Sprintf("https://api.github.com/repos/%s/commits?per_page=%d", repo, maxCommits), nil)

	if token != "" {
		token = fmt.Sprintf("Bearer %s", token)
		repositoryRequest.Header.Add("Authorization", token)
		PRsRequest.Header.Add("Authorization", token)
		issuesRequest.Header.Add("Authorization", token)
		CommitsRequest.Header.Add("Authorization", token)
	}

	var repositoryResponse githubRepositoryResponseJson
	var detailsErr error
	var PRsResponse githubTicketResponseJson
	var PRsErr error

View on GitHub (pinned to 91324e8de7)

Solutions

  1. Retype the repository value as a clean 'owner/repo' string
  2. Check the glance.yml for invisible characters (YAML multiline '>' or '|' scalars, tabs, trailing spaces)
  3. Read the wrapped %v — Go's url.Parse error pinpoints the offending character position

Example fix

// before (glance.yml)
widget:
  type: repository
  repository: >
    go-gitea/gitea
// after
widget:
  type: repository
  repository: go-gitea/gitea
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Reject repo strings that cannot form a valid URL
if strings.ContainsAny(repo, "\n\r\t") || url.PathEscape(repo) != repo {
    return errors.New("repository must be a clean owner/name string")
}

Try / catch

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "could not create request with repository") {
    // config hygiene issue: retype the repository value
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: The repo string interpolated into the URL contains control chars, a stray newline from YAML multiline formatting, or other characters that make url.Parse reject the request. Extremely rare with normal 'owner/repo' values.

Common situations: YAML block scalar or trailing whitespace/control character sneaking into the repository key; copy-paste with an invisible character; almost never occurs with hand-typed config.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of glanceapp/glance@91324e8de7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f922e0e4bced36f7. Report an issue: GitHub.