jdx/mise · error

cannot be used with a bootstrap subcommand

Error message

{flag} cannot be used with a bootstrap subcommand

What it means

`mise bootstrap` rejects combining --from/--adopt with a bootstrap subcommand: the flag selects a repository to run against, while subcommands operate inside an already-configured bootstrap repo, so both at once is ambiguous and the run method bails before any work.

Solutions

1. Drop --adopt/--from when using a subcommand.
2. If you want the from/adopt mode, omit the subcommand: `mise bootstrap --from <url>`.
3. Consult `mise bootstrap --help` to see which invocation form each flag belongs to.

Example fix

// before
mise bootstrap pull --from https://github.com/me/dotfiles
// after
mise bootstrap pull

case "$*" in *--adopt*|*--from*) if has_subcommand; then echo "drop --adopt/--from with subcommands";; esac

When it happens

Trigger: Running e.g. `mise bootstrap status --adopt x` or `mise bootstrap pull --from <url>` — a subcommand is present and one of the conflicting flags is set.

Common situations: Copy-pasting the one-shot `mise bootstrap --from <url>` invocation while also naming a subcommand.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

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AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6a535a802ebe8393. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/bootstrap.rs:1256

        self.dry_run |= dry_run;
        self.yes |= yes;
    }

    #[cfg(test)]
    pub(super) fn inherited_root_flags(&self) -> (bool, bool) {
        (self.dry_run, self.yes)
    }

    pub(crate) async fn run(mut self) -> Result<()> {
        normalize_adopt_alias(&mut self.adopt, self.from_git.take());
        if self.from.is_some() || self.adopt.is_some() {
            if self.command.is_some() {
                let flag = if self.adopt.is_some() {
                    "--adopt"
                } else {
                    "--from"
                };
                bail!("{flag} cannot be used with a bootstrap subcommand");
            }
            return self.run_from().await;
        }
        if let Some(command) = self.command.take() {
            return command.run().await;
        }
        let generation = OperationScope::begin("bootstrap", self.dry_run).await?;
        let result = self.run_phases().await;
        generation.refresh_tracked().await;
        let error = result.as_ref().err().map(|err| format!("{err:#}"));
        generation.finish(error, result.as_ref().ok().cloned());
        // a complete run applied the declarations that arrived through
        // sync; a declined, partial, or dry run did not
        if let Ok(summary) = &result
            && !self.dry_run
            && !is_declined(summary)
            && self.only.is_empty()
            && self.skip.is_empty()

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