jesseduffield/lazygit · error

gui.sidePanels: a side panel must have at least one tab.

Error message

gui.sidePanels: a side panel must have at least one tab.

What it means

Validation error from validateSidePanels in pkg/config/user_config_validation.go:72. gui.sidePanels is a list of side panels, each itself a list of tab names; an inner list with zero entries means a side panel with no tabs, which lazygit cannot render. The check rejects it at config load time.

Source

Thrown at pkg/config/user_config_validation.go:72

	}
	if err := validateCustomCommands(config.CustomCommands); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if err := validateSpinner(config.Gui.Spinner); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if err := validateSidePanels(config.Gui.SidePanels); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

func validateSidePanels(panels []SidePanel) error {
	seen := map[string]bool{}
	total := 0
	for _, panel := range panels {
		if len(panel) == 0 {
			return errors.New("gui.sidePanels: a side panel must have at least one tab.")
		}
		for _, name := range panel {
			if !slices.Contains(ValidSidePanelTabs, name) {
				return fmt.Errorf("gui.sidePanels: unknown side panel '%s'. Allowed values: %s",
					name, strings.Join(ValidSidePanelTabs, ", "))
			}
			if seen[name] {
				return fmt.Errorf("gui.sidePanels: '%s' is listed more than once; each side panel may appear only once.", name)
			}
			seen[name] = true
			total++
		}
	}
	if total == 0 {
		return errors.New("gui.sidePanels must not be empty.")
	}
	// A lot of code focuses these panels directly (e.g. after resolving a
	// conflict or popping a stash), so they must always be present; otherwise

View on GitHub (pinned to c477a2959b)

Solutions

1. Open config.yml, find gui.sidePanels, and give every inner list at least one valid tab name
2. Remove the empty inner list entirely if the panel is not wanted
3. Cross-check names against ValidSidePanelTabs (the error for unknown names lists them) and restart lazygit

Example fix

# before
gui:
  sidePanels:
    - [commits, files]
    - []

# after
gui:
  sidePanels:
    - [commits, files]
    - [branches]

function validateSidePanelsDraft(panels [][]string) error {
    for _, panel := range panels {
        if len(panel) == 0 {
            return errors.New("a side panel must have at least one tab")
        }
    }
    return nil
}

func isNonEmptySidePanel(p []string) bool { return len(p) > 0 }

When it happens

Trigger: Writing gui.sidePanels with an empty inner list, e.g. 'sidePanels: [[commits, files], []]' — the second panel has no tabs. Loading the config triggers validateSidePanels which returns this error before the GUI starts.

Common situations: Restructuring sidePanels to hide panels and accidentally leaving an empty group; YAML indentation mistakes that parse a panel as empty; config generated by scripts.

Related errors

• gui.sidePanels must not be empty.
• gui.spinner.frames must not be empty.
• git.diffRenderers: 'command' must be specified for diff rend
• custom command prompt must have a type of 'input', 'menu', '
• You should have an allBranchesLogCmds defined as a sequence!

AI-assisted analysis of jesseduffield/lazygit@c477a2959b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/444023230d58d50d. Report an issue: GitHub.