ipfs/kubo · error

%s is not a profile

Error message

%s is not a profile

What it means

`ipfs config profile apply <name>` looks the profile up in config.Profiles, the registry of built-in profiles (server, local-discovery, test, etc.). If the name is absent from that map, Kubo returns '<name> is not a profile' without touching the config.

Source

Thrown at core/commands/config.go:445

	Subcommands: map[string]*cmds.Command{
		"apply": configProfileApplyCmd,
	},
}

var configProfileApplyCmd = &cmds.Command{
	Helptext: cmds.HelpText{
		Tagline: "Apply profile to config.",
	},
	Options: []cmds.Option{
		cmds.BoolOption(configDryRunOptionName, "print difference between the current config and the config that would be generated"),
	},
	Arguments: []cmds.Argument{
		cmds.StringArg("profile", true, false, "The profile to apply to the config."),
	},
	Run: func(req *cmds.Request, res cmds.ResponseEmitter, env cmds.Environment) error {
		profile, ok := config.Profiles[req.Arguments[0]]
		if !ok {
			return fmt.Errorf("%s is not a profile", req.Arguments[0])
		}

		dryRun, _ := req.Options[configDryRunOptionName].(bool)
		cfgRoot, err := cmdenv.GetConfigRoot(env)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		oldCfg, newCfg, err := transformConfig(cfgRoot, req.Arguments[0], profile.Transform, dryRun)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		oldCfgMap, err := scrubPrivKey(oldCfg)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. List valid names in the docs/help: `ipfs config profile apply --help` documents the built-in profiles
2. Use an existing profile such as server, local-discovery, test, default-datastore, flat-fs, badgerds
3. Fix the spelling of the profile name
4. If you need custom defaults, script `ipfs config set`/`ipfs config replace` calls instead of a profile

Example fix

// before
$ ipfs config profile apply serverr
serverr is not a profile
// after
$ ipfs config profile apply server
applied profile 'server'

known="server local-discovery test default-datastore flat-fs badgerds"; [[ " $known " == *" $p "* ]] || { echo "$p is not a profile"; exit 1; }

if err := run("ipfs", "config", "profile", "apply", p); err != nil {
	if strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), "is not a profile") {
		// surface the list of valid profiles to the caller
	}
}

When it happens

Trigger: `ipfs config profile apply <name>` with a misspelled name, a custom/invented name, or a deprecated/removed profile name from old documentation.

Common situations: Following outdated tutorials referencing retired profiles; typos in profile names; expecting user-defined profiles to be supported (they are not — only built-ins); scripts parameterized over profile names.

Related errors

• invalid configuration profile: %s
• cannot add default bootstrap peers: AutoConf is disabled (Au
• cannot remove individual bootstrap peers when using 'auto' p
• cannot set Identity.PeerID to a value that does not match th
• failed to unmarshal json. %s

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/573dbf45bbc3657d. Report an issue: GitHub.