hasura/graphql-engine · error

error in getting input from editor: %w

Error message

error in getting input from editor: %w

What it means

Thrown by Actions.Create when CaptureInputFromEditor fails — the CLI could not launch the user's preferred editor ($VISUAL/$EDITOR, or a fallback) to collect the GraphQL SDL for the new action. The underlying error is wrapped.

Source

Thrown at cli/internal/metadataobject/actions/actions.go:134

		}

		sdlToResp, err := a.cliExtensionConfig.ConvertMetadataToSDL(sdlToReq)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in converting metadata to sdl: %w", err))
		}

		defaultSDL = sdlToResp.SDL.Complete
	}

	graphqlFileContent = defaultSDL + "\n" + graphqlFileContent

	data, err := editor.CaptureInputFromEditor(
		editor.GetPreferredEditorFromEnvironment,
		graphqlFileContent,
		"graphql",
	)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in getting input from editor: %w", err))
	}

	sdlFromReq := types.SDLFromRequest{
		SDL: types.SDLPayload{
			Complete: string(data),
		},
	}

	sdlFromResp, err := a.cliExtensionConfig.ConvertSDLToMetadata(sdlFromReq)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in converting sdl to metadata: %w", err))
	}

	currentActionNames := make([]string, 0)
	for actionIndex, action := range sdlFromResp.Actions {
		if slices.Contains(currentActionNames, action.Name) {
			return errors.E(
				op,

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Set EDITOR or VISUAL to an available editor, e.g. export EDITOR=vim
2. Install a minimal editor in the container (vim/nano) or run the command in an interactive shell
3. If non-interactive use is required, use the API/SDK path that supplies SDL directly instead of the editor flow

Example fix

# before (CI, no editor)
hasura actions create foo  # -> error getting input from editor

# after
export EDITOR=vi
hasura actions create foo

if os.Getenv("EDITOR") == "" && os.Getenv("VISUAL") == "" {
	os.Setenv("EDITOR", "vi") // ensure a fallback editor exists
}

if err := actions.Create(...); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error in getting input from editor") {
		// set EDITOR/VISUAL or run in an interactive TTY, then retry
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running action creation in an environment with no editor available: EDITOR/VISUAL unset and no default editor found, non-interactive shells (CI, docker exec without TTY), or the configured editor command exiting abnormally.

Common situations: CI pipelines or containers where no editor binary exists, EDITOR pointing to a nonexistent command, or ssh sessions without a TTY.

Related errors

• cannot find default editor from env: %w
• error in reading %s file: %w
• action %s already exists in %s
• error in converting metadata to sdl: %w
• error in converting sdl to metadata: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/50ab7c7b8f22d23d. Report an issue: GitHub.