{} contains `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START}` but no `{TASK_PLACEHO

Error message

{} contains `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START}` but no `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END}` after it, --inject requires both markers

What it means

`mise generate task-docs --inject` requires both markers, with the end marker after the start marker. When the file contains TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START but no TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END after it, mise bails rather than replacing to end-of-file, because it cannot determine where the injected block should stop.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/generate/task_docs.rs:155

/// Replace everything between the mise-tasks markers in `contents` with `doc`.
///
/// Both markers must be present, with the end marker after the start marker. When
/// a marker is missing this errors instead of writing anything: falling back to
/// "the block starts at byte 0" truncated files that had no markers at all, and
/// panicked outright on files shorter than the marker (discussions/4676).
fn inject_task_docs(contents: &str, doc: &str, output: &Path) -> eyre::Result<String> {
    let Some(start) = contents.find(TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START) else {
        bail!(
            "{} does not contain the `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START}` marker required by --inject, add:\n\n{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START}\n{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END}",
            file::display_path(output)
        );
    };
    let body_start = start + TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START.len();
    let Some(end) = contents[body_start..]
        .find(TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END)
        .map(|e| e + body_start)
    else {
        bail!(
            "{} contains `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START}` but no `{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END}` after it, --inject requires both markers",
            file::display_path(output)
        );
    };
    let mut contents = contents.to_string();
    contents.replace_range(body_start..end, doc);
    Ok(contents)
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
    use super::{TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END, TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START, inject_task_docs};
    use std::path::Path;

    fn inject(contents: &str) -> eyre::Result<String> {
        inject_task_docs(contents, "\n## `task`\n", Path::new("README.md"))
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

Re-add the TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END marker after the start marker, then rerun --inject
Restore the complete marker pair from the generated (non-injected) output or git history
Verify ordering: the end marker must appear strictly after the start marker in the file

Example fix

// before (docs/tasks.md)
<!-- TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START -->
| task | description |

// after
<!-- TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START -->
| task | description |
<!-- TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END -->
// then: mise generate task-docs --inject

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# ensure both markers, in order, before injecting
grep -n 'TASK_PLACEHOLDER_START\|TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END' docs/tasks.md
# start line must be < end line; if END is missing, re-add it:
# printf '<!-- TASK_PLACEHOLDER_END -->\n' >> docs/tasks.md

Prevention

Treat the marker pair as an atomic unit when editing generated docs
Restore markers from git history after manual edits
Keep the end marker immediately after the generated table so reordering never drops it

When it happens

Trigger: Running task-docs injection on a file where someone deleted the end marker, a partial edit removed everything after the start marker, or the end marker appears before the start marker (so the post-start search misses it).

Common situations: Manual cleanup of a generated docs file that accidentally removed the closing marker; a truncated file from a failed merge; markers reordered when rearranging sections.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is required", "must be set", "missing required field": configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 36 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b0b7653f72869aa. Report an issue: GitHub.