jdx/mise · error

no dotfiles matched target filter

Error message

no dotfiles matched target filter: {}

What it means

`mise dotfiles` throws this when a target filter (`mise dotfiles --target <name>`) matched none of the tracked dotfiles or saved edits, while the unfiltered set is non-empty. The library throws it to distinguish 'no dotfiles at all' from 'your filter is wrong', since the latter almost always means a typo or stale target name.

Solutions

1. List available dotfile targets and use an exact existing name: `mise dotfiles` (no filter) to see what is tracked
2. Check your `[dotfiles]` configuration to confirm the target exists and is tracked
3. Remove or correct the --target flag if you actually want all dotfiles
4. If the target should exist, track it first before filtering on it

Example fix

// before
mise dotfiles --target nvim-confg
// after
mise dotfiles --target nvim-config  # exact tracked target name

targets=$(mise dotfiles --json | jq -r '.targets[]')
for t in nvim-config; do
  echo "$targets" | grep -qx "$t" || { echo "unknown target: $t"; exit 1; }
done

if ! mise dotfiles --target "$t"; then
  echo "target '$t' not tracked; run: mise dotfiles"
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Calling dotfiles commands (e.g. `mise dotfiles --target foo`) with one or more targets when `files` and `edits` are both empty after filtering, but `all_files` or `all_edits` exist. The targets are joined into the message.

Common situations: Typo in a target name; referencing a dotfile target that was untracked or removed from `[dotfiles]` config; running on a machine where those files were never set up; renaming a target in config but keeping the old CLI flag in a script.

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

• no dotfiles matched target filter
• no dotfiles matched target filter
• a glob is required
• `--all` needs `--to
• at least one target or --changed is required

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@533346cc37 (2026-09-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4410c87f0f89dcd7. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/dotfiles/mod.rs:57

    let all_files = crate::system::files::files_from_config(config)?;
    crate::system::files::validate_composed_file_footprints(&all_files)?;
    let files = all_files
        .iter()
        .filter(|req| crate::system::files::matches_target(&req.target, &req.target_raw, targets))
        .cloned()
        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
    let all_edits = crate::system::edits::edits_from_config(config)?;
    let edits = all_edits
        .iter()
        .filter(|req| crate::system::edits::matches_target(req, targets))
        .cloned()
        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
    if files.is_empty()
        && edits.is_empty()
        && !targets.is_empty()
        && (!all_files.is_empty() || !all_edits.is_empty())
    {
        eyre::bail!("no dotfiles matched target filter: {}", targets.join(", "));
    }
    Ok((files, edits))
}

/// Manage dotfiles from `[dotfiles]`
#[derive(Debug, usage_rs::Args)]
#[usage(verbatim_doc_comment)]
pub(crate) struct Dotfiles {
    #[usage(subcommand)]
    command: Commands,
}

#[derive(Debug, usage_rs::Subcommands)]
enum Commands {
    Add(add::DotfilesAdd),
    Apply(apply::DotfilesApply),
    Capture(capture::DotfilesCapture),
    Conflicts(conflicts::DotfilesConflicts),

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