jdx/mise · error

invalid or repeated variant for

Error message

invalid or repeated variant for {}

What it means

Variant names inside an enrollment entry must be safe branch path names, must not contain '@', and must be unique within the entry. `validate` bails when a variant name violates any of these rules, keeping variant names usable as branch/path components.

Solutions

1. Rename the variant to a safe, unique branch-path-style name without '@' (e.g. use a hyphen instead of '@')
2. Remove duplicate variant entries within the enrollment
3. Validate variant names with the same rules you'd apply to file/branch names (no `..`, no separators/unsafe chars)

Example fix

// before
variants = ["user@host", "laptop"]
// after
variants = ["user-host", "laptop"]

fn variant_ok(name: &str, seen: &mut std::collections::BTreeSet<&str>) -> bool {
  !name.contains('@') && is_safe_branch_path(name) && seen.insert(name)
}

match manifest.validate() {
  Err(e) if e.to_string().starts_with("invalid or repeated variant") => {
    // rename/deduplicate variants, then re-validate
  }
  other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `validate` (via `tracking`, `write`, or permission capture) with an entry whose variant name contains '@', includes unsafe path characters or `..` segments, or repeats a name already used by another variant in the same entry.

Common situations: Naming variants with machine identifiers containing '@' (e.g. `user@host`); copy/pasting a variant and forgetting to rename it; using spaces or special characters in variant names.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid id" errors: invalid identifier format — why libraries reject IDs before lookup, and how to fix them — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• ambiguous variants for
• dotfile enrollment metadata must be a regular file
• firewall rule name ' ' must contain only ASCII letters…
• invalid bootstrap secret name
• invalid bootstrap service name

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4a237cdd70d0ce5c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/system/history/manifest.rs:378

        let mut paths = std::collections::BTreeSet::new();
        for entry in &self.enrollment {
            if !super::sync::layout::is_safe_branch_path(&entry.path)
                || !(entry.path.starts_with("home/")
                    || entry.path == "config"
                    || entry.path.starts_with("config/"))
                || !paths.insert(&entry.path)
            {
                bail!("invalid or repeated enrollment path {}", entry.path);
            }
            let mut variants = std::collections::BTreeSet::new();
            super::select::validate(&entry.variants)?;
            for variant in &entry.variants {
                let name = variant.name();
                if name.contains('@')
                    || !super::sync::layout::is_safe_branch_path(&name)
                    || !variants.insert(name)
                {
                    bail!("invalid or repeated variant for {}", entry.path);
                }
            }
        }
        for (path, bits) in &self.permissions {
            if *bits > 0o777
                || !super::sync::layout::is_safe_branch_path(path)
                || !self.owns_stream(path)
            {
                bail!("invalid or unenrolled permission path {path}");
            }
        }
        Ok(())
    }

    pub(crate) fn read(repo: &HistoryRepo, tree: &str) -> Result<Option<Self>> {
        let Some((mode, oid)) = repo.object_at(tree, PATH)? else {
            return Ok(None);
        };

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