golang/go · error

cannot parse GOAUTH command

Error message

cannot parse GOAUTH command %s: %v

What it means

Raised by buildCommand when quoted.Split(command) fails to parse the GOAUTH command string with Go's shell-like quoting rules. The %s is the offending command string, %v the quoted.Split error (typically an unclosed quote or invalid escape). This happens before any process is started.

Solutions

1. Balance all quotes in the GOAUTH value.
2. Quote paths containing spaces with single quotes: `GOAUTH='/path with spaces/auth'`.
3. Inspect the resolved value: `go env GOAUTH`.
4. Avoid unnecessary nesting of quotes; prefer one quoting style.

Example fix

// before
GOAUTH='my-auth "cmd'
// after
GOAUTH='my-auth "cmd"'

// Validate the GOAUTH command string parses before the go command reads it.
if _, err := quoted.Split(os.Getenv("GOAUTH")); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("GOAUTH has unbalanced quoting: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: The GOAUTH environment variable contains a command string with unbalanced single or double quotes, or an invalid backslash escape that quoted.Split rejects.

Common situations: An unclosed quote such as `GOAUTH='my-auth "cmd'`; a Windows path with an unquoted trailing backslash; mixed quote styles; a value built by string concatenation that drops a closing quote.

Related errors

• cannot parse output of GOAUTH command
• could not parse URL
• could not run command
• 'git credential fill' failed for url=
• 'git credential fill' failed

AI-assisted analysis of golang/go@b6b368adc5 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5bfac4ae713ba600. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cmd/go/internal/auth/userauth.go:110

	}
	return credentials, nil
}

// mapHeadersToPrefixes returns a mapping of prefix → http.Header without
// the leading "https://".
func mapHeadersToPrefixes(prefixes []string, header http.Header) map[string]http.Header {
	prefixToHeaders := make(map[string]http.Header, len(prefixes))
	for _, p := range prefixes {
		p = strings.TrimPrefix(p, "https://")
		prefixToHeaders[p] = header.Clone() // Clone the header to avoid sharing
	}
	return prefixToHeaders
}

func buildCommand(command string) (*exec.Cmd, error) {
	words, err := quoted.Split(command)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot parse GOAUTH command %s: %v", command, err)
	}
	cmd := exec.Command(words[0], words[1:]...)
	return cmd, nil
}

// writeResponseToStdin writes the HTTP response to the command's stdin.
func writeResponseToStdin(cmd *exec.Cmd, res *http.Response) error {
	var output strings.Builder
	output.WriteString(res.Proto + " " + res.Status + "\n")
	for k, v := range res.Header {
		output.WriteString(k + ": " + strings.Join(v, ", ") + "\n")
	}
	output.WriteString("\n")
	cmd.Stdin = strings.NewReader(output.String())
	return nil
}

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