jesseduffield/lazygit · info

Nothing to stage: the parent repo can only stage a new submo

Error message

Nothing to stage: the parent repo can only stage a new submodule commit, not the uncommitted changes inside a submodule. Commit inside the submodule first.

What it means

Thrown by FilesController.toggleStaged as a terminal fallback: the selection contained only a submodule whose dirtiness is uncommitted content inside the submodule (no new submodule commit), there was nothing unstaged to stage, and nothing staged to unstage. The parent repo can only stage a new submodule pointer commit, so the toggle would be a silent no-op and lazygit explains why instead.

Source

Thrown at pkg/gui/controllers/files_controller.go:555

			return err
		}
		shouldStage = !noOp
	}

	if shouldStage {
		self.c.LogAction(stageAction)

		if err := self.optimisticChange(unstagedNodes, self.optimisticStage); err != nil {
			return err
		}

		return stage(unstagedNodes)
	}

	// If there's nothing staged to unstage either, then the only thing we acted
	// on was an unstageable submodule and nothing happened, so say why.
	if !someNodesHaveStagedChanges(nodes) {
		return errors.New(self.c.Tr.NothingToStageForSubmodule)
	}

	self.c.LogAction(unstageAction)

	if err := self.optimisticChange(nodes, self.optimisticUnstage); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	return unstage(nodes)
}

func (self *FilesController) pressWithLock(selectedNodes []*filetree.FileNode) error {
	// When filtering, expand directory nodes to individual visible file paths
	// so that only filtered files are staged/unstaged.
	toPaths := func(nodes []*filetree.FileNode) []string {
		if self.context().IsFiltering() {
			var paths []string
			for _, node := range nodes {

View on GitHub (pinned to c477a2959b)

Solutions

1. Enter the submodule (lazygit supports nested repos) and commit inside it first
2. Then return to the parent repo and stage the updated submodule pointer

Example fix

# before: dirty submodule, space in parent errors
# after
cd path/to/submodule && git add -A && git commit -m 'work'
cd .. && git add path/to/submodule   # stage new pointer

// Before toggling stage on a selection, detect unstageable submodule-only content:
if len(unstagedNodes) == 0 && !someNodesHaveStagedChanges(nodes) {
    return errors.New("commit inside the submodule first; the parent repo stages only the new pointer")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Pressing 'space' on a file node that is a dirty/untracked-content submodule — the parent repo sees no stageable change for it and nothing else in the selection is stageable.

Common situations: Users treating a submodule like a normal directory and pressing space expecting its inner modifications to be staged from the parent repo.

Related errors

• Cannot stage/unstage directory containing files with inline
• Multiple base commits found. (Try staging fewer changes at o
• Git version must be at least %s. Please upgrade your git ver
• Lazygit does not support bare repos.
• unexpected git output

AI-assisted analysis of jesseduffield/lazygit@c477a2959b (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3c6827a14e8ef649. Report an issue: GitHub.