jdx/mise · error

--source can only be used with one target

Error message

--source can only be used with one target

What it means

When `--source` is given to `mise dotfiles add`, the command tracks a single target file and links it from the specified source; with multiple targets the source mapping would be ambiguous. `validate` therefore bails with '--source can only be used with one target' when source.is_some() && targets.len() != 1.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/dotfiles/add.rs:100

    pub(super) yes: bool,
}

impl DotfilesAdd {
    /// Validate and capture the requested targets as one transactional update.
    pub(crate) async fn run(self) -> Result<()> {
        let mode = self.validate()?;
        OperationScope::wrap("bootstrap dotfiles add", self.dry_run, self.run_inner(mode)).await
    }

    fn validate(&self) -> Result<FileMode> {
        if self.changed && !self.targets.is_empty() {
            bail!("--changed does not accept target arguments");
        }
        if !self.changed && self.targets.is_empty() {
            bail!("at least one target or --changed is required");
        }
        if self.source.is_some() && self.targets.len() != 1 {
            bail!("--source can only be used with one target");
        }
        match self.mode.as_deref() {
            Some("track") => bail!(
                "`--mode track` tracks a file where it is and takes no source; use `mise bootstrap dotfiles track <path>`"
            ),
            Some(mode) => {
                FileMode::parse(mode).ok_or_else(|| eyre::eyre!("unknown dotfile mode: {mode}"))
            }
            None => Ok(system::files::default_mode()),
        }
    }

    async fn run_inner(mut self, mode: FileMode) -> Result<()> {
        let config = Config::get().await?;
        let managed = system::files::files_from_config(&config)?;
        if self.changed {
            for req in &managed {
                if req.mode == FileMode::Copy

View on GitHub (pinned to afd2eddd3a)

Solutions

1. Run one `mise dotfiles add --source <src> <target>` per file
2. If several files share a source directory, loop over the targets in your script
3. Omit --source and use default tracking when adding multiple targets

Example fix

// before
mise dotfiles add --source ~/dotfiles ~/.zshrc ~/.bashrc
// after
mise dotfiles add --source ~/dotfiles ~/.zshrc
mise dotfiles add --source ~/dotfiles ~/.bashrc

if [ -n "$SOURCE" ] && [ $# -ne 1 ]; then echo '--source works with exactly one target'; exit 1; fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `mise dotfiles add --source <src> <target1> <target2>` — i.e. --source combined with more than one positional target (including zero targets, which would hit this check only if source is set with no targets).

Common situations: Batch-adding several dotfiles from one directory using a single --source path, or copy-pasting a multi-file command and adding --source afterwards.

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

• --changed does not accept target arguments
• --operation takes at most one checkpoint reference
• locked mode requires lockfile to be enabled hint: Remove `lo
• at least one target or --changed is required
• `--mode track` tracks a file where it is and takes no source

AI-assisted analysis of jdx/mise@afd2eddd3a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/050f45c60679baf8. Report an issue: GitHub.