glanceapp/glance · error · errNoContent

%w: could not get repository details: %s

Error message

%w: could not get repository details: %s

What it means

Returned by fetchRepositoryDetailsFromGithub (internal/glance/widget-repository.go:175) when the primary request — GET api.github.com/repos/{repo} for the repo's stars/forks/name — failed to complete or decode. It is wrapped in errNoContent, so the repository widget shows no content rather than partial data, even though PR/issue/commit sub-requests may have succeeded. The underlying detailsErr is typically a non-200 (404 unknown repo, 401 bad token, 403 rate limit) or a JSON decode failure.

Source

Thrown at internal/glance/widget-repository.go:175

		wg.Add(1)
		go (func() {
			defer wg.Done()
			issuesResponse, issuesErr = decodeJsonFromRequest[githubTicketResponseJson](defaultHTTPClient, issuesRequest)
		})()
	}

	if maxCommits > 0 {
		wg.Add(1)
		go (func() {
			defer wg.Done()
			commitsResponse, CommitsErr = decodeJsonFromRequest[[]gitHubCommitResponseJson](defaultHTTPClient, CommitsRequest)
		})()
	}

	wg.Wait()

	if detailsErr != nil {
		return repository{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: could not get repository details: %s", errNoContent, detailsErr)
	}

	details := repository{
		Name:         repositoryResponse.Name,
		Stars:        repositoryResponse.Stars,
		Forks:        repositoryResponse.Forks,
		PullRequests: make([]githubTicket, 0, len(PRsResponse.Tickets)),
		Issues:       make([]githubTicket, 0, len(issuesResponse.Tickets)),
		Commits:      make([]githubCommitDetails, 0, len(commitsResponse)),
	}

	err = nil

	if maxPRs > 0 {
		if PRsErr != nil {
			err = fmt.Errorf("%w: could not get PRs: %s", errPartialContent, PRsErr)
		} else {
			details.OpenPullRequests = PRsResponse.Count

View on GitHub (pinned to 91324e8de7)

Solutions

1. Verify the repository exists: curl https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}
2. Set a GitHub token (GITHUB_TOKEN env or token key in config) to raise the rate limit to 5000/hr
3. If rate-limited, wait for the limit window to reset and increase the widget's cache/update interval
4. Fix owner/name spelling in glance.yml

if err != nil && errors.Is(err, errNoContent) && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "could not get repository details") {
    // 404/401/403: fix name or token; rate limit: back off and retry next cycle
}

When it happens

Trigger: 404 for a typo'd/renamed/deleted repository; 401 with an invalid token; 403 with GitHub API rate limit exhausted (60/hr unauthenticated); network error or HTML error page that fails JSON decoding on the main repo endpoint.

Common situations: Anonymous Glance instances polling many GitHub repos hitting the 60 req/hr limit; expired PAT; repository renamed by upstream owner; GitHub incident serving 5xx HTML pages.

Related errors

• %w: could not get PRs: %s
• %w: could not get issues: %s
• %w: could not get commits: %s
• unexpected status code %d when requesting challenge page
• unexpected status code %d when submitting challenge solution

AI-assisted analysis of glanceapp/glance@91324e8de7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/22a00e7185207cbb. Report an issue: GitHub.