jdx/mise · error

should not be called for system tool

Error message

should not be called for system tool

What it means

The file download routine (used to fetch release artifacts) checks the `offline` setting before starting any download and throws "offline mode is enabled" if enabled. Downloads also write partial files keyed by a request hash; the offline guard prevents any of that network/IO work when the user opted out of network access.

Source

Thrown at src/backend/asdf.rs:266

            sm = sm.with_env(k, value);
        }
        for (key, value) in tv.install_env() {
            sm = match value.into_string() {
                Some(value) => sm.with_env(key, value),
                None => sm.without_env(key),
            };
        }
        if let Some(project_root) = &config.project_root {
            let project_root = project_root.to_string_lossy().to_string();
            sm = sm.with_env("MISE_PROJECT_ROOT", project_root);
        }
        let install_type = match &tv.request {
            ToolRequest::Version { .. } | ToolRequest::Prefix { .. } => "version",
            ToolRequest::Ref { .. } => "ref",
            ToolRequest::Path { .. } => "path",
            ToolRequest::Sub { .. } => "sub",
            ToolRequest::System { .. } => {
                panic!("should not be called for system tool")
            }
        };
        let install_version = match &tv.request {
            ToolRequest::Ref { ref_: v, .. } => v, // should not have "ref:" prefix
            _ => &tv.version,
        };
        // add env vars from mise.toml files
        for (key, value) in config.env().await? {
            sm = sm.with_env(key, value.clone());
        }
        let install = tv.install_path().to_string_lossy().to_string();
        let download = tv.download_path().to_string_lossy().to_string();
        sm = sm
            .with_env("ASDF_DOWNLOAD_PATH", &download)
            .with_env("ASDF_INSTALL_PATH", &install)
            .with_env("ASDF_INSTALL_TYPE", install_type)
            .with_env("ASDF_INSTALL_VERSION", install_version)
            .with_env("MISE_DOWNLOAD_PATH", download)

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

1. Disable offline mode: unset MISE_OFFLINE or `mise settings set offline false`
2. Set `offline = false` in the [settings] table of your mise.toml
3. Pre-download artifacts while online or point at a mirror reachable in your environment
4. Use already-installed tool versions instead of installing new ones while offline

Example fix

// before
# CI job
env:
  MISE_OFFLINE: "1"
steps: ["mise install node@22"]

// after
env:
  MISE_OFFLINE: "0"
steps: ["mise install node@22"]

# ensure offline mode is off before installing
[ "$(mise settings get offline)" = "false" ] || { echo "disable offline mode to install"; exit 1; }

match download_result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("offline mode is enabled") => Err(anyhow!("cannot download while offline; unset MISE_OFFLINE and retry")),
    other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the download method (with url, destination path, headers, reporter, total_timeout) while Settings::get().offline() is true — typically during `mise install`/upgrade with offline mode set.

Common situations: Installing a new tool version on a machine with MISE_OFFLINE=1; a CI job configured offline attempting to download artifacts not in cache.

Related errors

• cannot encode #{value.class} as JSON
• Failed to read schema at {}: {}
• Failed to parse schema JSON: {}
• cli feature is not enabled
• HTTP download timed out after {} for {} (attempt {}, {} byte

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7a0d0f5c33100b14. Report an issue: GitHub.