juanfont/headscale · error

parsing user: %w

Error message

parsing user: %w

What it means

"parsing user: %w" at cmd/dev/main.go:171 wraps extractUserID(userJSON) in cmd/dev. The tool takes the JSON emitted by `headscale users create dev -o json` and extracts the numeric user id needed for the pre-auth key step. The error means the JSON could not be parsed or lacked the expected id field — i.e. the CLI's output shape did not match what the dev tool expects.

Source

Thrown at cmd/dev/main.go:171

	// Wait for server to be ready.
	healthURL := fmt.Sprintf("http://127.0.0.1:%d/health", *port)

	err = waitForHealth(ctx, healthURL, 30*time.Second)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("waiting for headscale: %w", err)
	}

	// Create user.
	fmt.Println("Creating user and pre-auth key...")

	userJSON, err := runHS(ctx, hsBin, configPath, "users", "create", "dev", "-o", "json")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("creating user: %w", err)
	}

	userID, err := extractUserID(userJSON)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("parsing user: %w", err)
	}

	// Create pre-auth key.
	keyJSON, err := runHS(
		ctx, hsBin, configPath,
		"preauthkeys", "create",
		"-u", strconv.FormatUint(userID, 10),
		"--reusable",
		"-e", "24h",
		"-o", "json",
	)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("creating pre-auth key: %w", err)
	}

	authKey, err := extractAuthKey(keyJSON)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("parsing pre-auth key: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 565fd254d0)

Solutions

1. Rebuild/re-run the dev tool from the same source tree: `go run ./cmd/dev` (never mix old tool with new server source)
2. Inspect the CLI's JSON output manually with `headscale users create dev -o json` and report a schema-change bug if the id field is genuinely missing

userID, err := extractUserID(userJSON)
if err != nil {
	// version skew between dev tool and CLI output schema — rebuild both from the same tree
	return fmt.Errorf("parsing user: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a cmd/dev binary whose runHS/extractUserID expectations differ from the users-create JSON produced by the current source tree (e.g. version skew after pulling new commits that changed the CLI output); the CLI emitted an error object or empty output instead of a user record.

Common situations: A stale compiled cmd/dev being reused after the users API output format changed; a partially written config causing the CLI to print a warning line alongside the JSON.

Related errors

• parsing pre-auth key: %w
• unmarshalling user JSON: %w (raw: %s)
• unmarshalling key JSON: %w (raw: %s)
• unknown autogroup
• type not supported

AI-assisted analysis of juanfont/headscale@565fd254d0 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9389c53f3778f1ec. Report an issue: GitHub.