invoke-ai/InvokeAI · critical · RuntimeError

Failed to load config file {config_path}: {e}

Error message

Failed to load config file {config_path}: {e}

What it means

load_and_migrate_config wraps any failure while reading, parsing, validating, or schema-migrating the InvokeAI YAML config file (or validating the resulting InvokeAIAppConfig model, including schema-version mismatch) in a RuntimeError. It is a catch-all so callers get one consistent error naming the offending config_path. The original cause is chained via `from e`.

Source

Thrown at invokeai/app/services/config/config_default.py:636

    if migrated:
        shutil.copy(config_path, config_path.with_suffix(".yaml.bak"))
        try:
            # load and write without environment variables
            migrated_config = DefaultInvokeAIAppConfig.model_validate(loaded_config_dict)
            migrated_config.write_file(config_path)
        except Exception as e:
            shutil.copy(config_path.with_suffix(".yaml.bak"), config_path)
            raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load and migrate v3 config file {config_path}: {e}") from e

    try:
        # Meta is not included in the model fields, so we need to validate it separately
        config = InvokeAIAppConfig.model_validate(loaded_config_dict)
        assert config.schema_version == CONFIG_SCHEMA_VERSION, (
            f"Invalid schema version, expected {CONFIG_SCHEMA_VERSION}: {config.schema_version}"
        )
        return config
    except Exception as e:
        raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load config file {config_path}: {e}") from e


def load_external_api_keys(api_keys_file_path: Path) -> dict[str, str]:
    """Load external provider config (API keys and base URLs) from a dedicated YAML file."""
    if not api_keys_file_path.exists():
        return {}

    with open(api_keys_file_path, "rt", encoding=locale.getpreferredencoding()) as file:
        loaded_api_keys: Any = yaml.safe_load(file)

    if loaded_api_keys is None:
        return {}

    if not isinstance(loaded_api_keys, dict):
        raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load api keys file {api_keys_file_path}: expected a mapping")

    parsed_api_keys: dict[str, str] = {}
    for field_name in EXTERNAL_PROVIDER_CONFIG_FIELDS:

View on GitHub (pinned to 0b6a024f2f)

Solutions

1. Read the chained cause message to see whether the problem is YAML syntax, pydantic field validation, or schema version
2. Fix the YAML syntax or field type at the path/line reported in the cause
3. If schema_version is stale, back up invokeai.yaml and let the migration run (or manually migrate fields to the current schema)
4. If irrecoverable, delete or rename the config file and let InvokeAI regenerate defaults, then re-apply settings

Example fix

// before (invokeai.yaml)
generation:
  threads: "four"
// after

generation:
  threads: 4

from pathlib import Path
import yaml
def config_file_ok(p: str) -> bool:
    f = Path(p)
    if not f.is_file():
        return False
    try:
        data = yaml.safe_load(f.read_text())
        return isinstance(data, dict)
    except yaml.YAMLError:
        return False

def is_valid_config(data: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(data, dict) and isinstance(data.get("schema_version", 0), int)

try:
    config = load_and_migrate_config(conf_path)
except RuntimeError as e:
    logger.error(f"config load failed: {e.__cause__}")
    raise SystemExit(1)

When it happens

Trigger: Calling load_and_migrate_config(conf_path, ...) when the file does not exist or is unreadable, contains invalid YAML, fails pydantic validation against InvokeAIAppConfig, or asserts schema_version != CONFIG_SCHEMA_VERSION.

Common situations: Hand-edited invokeai.yaml with a typo or wrong type (e.g. string where int expected), stale config from an older InvokeAI version whose schema_version is below CONFIG_SCHEMA_VERSION, malformed env-var interpolation, or a corrupted/empty config file.

Related errors

• Invalid regex: {e}
• Invalid generation_devices value '{v}'. Use 'auto' or a list
• generation_devices cannot be an empty list. Use 'auto' or a
• base_url must not start with reserved path segment '/{first_
• Failed to load and migrate v3 config file {config_path}: {e}

AI-assisted analysis of invoke-ai/InvokeAI@0b6a024f2f (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b971633f0f0c568d. Report an issue: GitHub.