go-delve/delve · error

could not find variable %q: %v

Error message

could not find variable %q: %v

What it means

starlarkTargetObject.Attr resolves a named attribute by evaluating it as a variable expression in the debuggee via Client().EvalVariable; when the debugger cannot evaluate the expression (undefined symbol, wrong scope, optimized-out variable) the underlying error is wrapped as `could not find variable %q`.

Source

Thrown at pkg/terminal/starbind/conv.go:744

}

func (starlarkTargetObject) Truth() starlark.Bool {
	return true
}

func (starlarkTargetObject) Type() string {
	return "<target variables>"
}

func (tgt starlarkTargetObject) AttrNames() []string {
	return nil
}

func (tgt starlarkTargetObject) Attr(name string) (starlark.Value, error) {
	env := tgt.env
	v, err := env.ctx.Client().EvalVariable(env.ctx.Scope(), name, env.ctx.LoadConfig())
	if err != nil {
		return starlark.None, fmt.Errorf("could not find variable %q: %v", name, err)
	}
	return env.variableValueToStarlarkValue(v, true)
}

type starlarkUnhashable struct {
}

func (starlarkUnhashable) Freeze() {
}

func (starlarkUnhashable) Hash() (uint32, error) {
	return 0, errors.New("not hashable")
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a23773e6c3)

Solutions

1. Verify the variable exists in the current scope (use `locals`/`print` in the CLI first)
2. Qualify package variables with their package path (e.g. main.myVar)
3. Switch the evaluation scope/goroutine before accessing the attribute
4. Check the inner error (%v) for details like 'could not find symbol' or 'optimized out'

Example fix

# before
x = tgt.counter      # counter not in current frame scope
# after
x = tgt["main.globalCounter"]        # qualified name, or
# switch scope to the frame holding the local first

# pre-check the name exists in scope via a plain evaluation before use
out = eval_in_debugger(name)
if out is None or 'could not find' in out:
    fail("variable %r not in scope" % name)

try:
    v = tgt.someVar
except Exception as e:
    if "could not find variable" in str(e):
        v = None  # or re-qualify the name and retry
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: A Starlark script accesses `target_object.someVar` where someVar is not a variable in the current evaluation scope (env.ctx.Scope()), or the name is a function/local that has been optimized out or belongs to another goroutine/frame.

Common situations: Scripts run with a scope pointing at a frame where the local no longer exists, accessing package-level names that need package qualification, or typos in variable names.

Related errors

• can not assign to %T.%q: %v
• can not assign big integer to %T.%q
• can not assign value of type %T to %T.%q
• key type not supported %T
• error setting argument %q to %s: %v

AI-assisted analysis of go-delve/delve@a23773e6c3 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6eeacf3b60c38296. Report an issue: GitHub.