jdx/mise · error

history is disabled (history.enabled = false)

Error message

history is disabled (history.enabled = false)

What it means

Dotfile checkpoint saving requires the history subsystem to be enabled via the history.enabled setting. When the setting is false, save refuses to run because checkpoints could not be recorded. This is an explicit opt-out guard, not a malfunction.

Solutions

  1. Enable history: run `mise settings set history.enabled true` or set it in the active config
  2. If history should stay disabled, do not use dot save; manage dotfiles manually

Example fix

# before (~/.config/mise/config.toml)
[history]
enabled = false
# after
[history]
enabled = true
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

enabled=$(mise settings get history.enabled)
[ "$enabled" = "true" ] || { echo "history disabled"; exit 1; }

Try / catch

if ! mise dot save update 2>err.log; then
  grep -q 'history is disabled' err.log && mise settings set history.enabled true
fi

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running any `mise dot save ...` while `history.enabled = false` in mise settings (settings.toml, config, or MISE_ env override).

Common situations: Users who disabled dotfile history earlier and forgot; shared config files with history disabled; CI environments where history is disabled by default policy.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dac1dc32e00f90b2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/dotfiles/save.rs:73

        match self.capture(store, tracked, draft) {
            Ok(()) => Ok(()),
            Err(err) if self.best_effort => {
                warn!("history save: {err:#}");
                Ok(())
            }
            Err(err) => Err(err),
        }
    }

    async fn save(self) -> Result<()> {
        let trigger = match self.trigger.as_str() {
            "save" => Trigger::Save,
            "agent" => Trigger::Agent,
            "update" => Trigger::Update,
            other => bail!("unknown trigger {other:?}; use save, agent, or update"),
        };
        if !crate::config::Settings::get().history.enabled {
            bail!("history is disabled (history.enabled = false)");
        }
        let (store, tracked, entries) = super::history::open().await?;
        if !self.paths.is_empty() {
            let walk = tracked.walk()?;
            for path in &self.paths {
                let path = normalize_target(path);
                let captured = walk.files.keys().any(|file| file.starts_with(&path));
                if !captured {
                    // saving a deleted manual-save path saves the deletion,
                    // provided the path was captured before (a path that
                    // never existed is not a deletion)
                    let deletion = tracked
                        .entry_for(&path)
                        .is_some_and(|entry| !entry.policy.autosave)
                        && std::fs::symlink_metadata(&path)
                            .is_err_and(|err| err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound)
                        && previously_captured(&store, &entries, &path)?;
                    if deletion {

View on GitHub (pinned to 533346cc37)