kovidgoyal/kitty · error

Bad config lines: %s with error: %s

Error message

Bad config lines: %s with error: %s

What it means

In the SSH kitten's self-test, load_config parsed a config file successfully but reported bad (unparseable) lines; the first bad line's content and parse error are reported. This mirrors real config-file syntax errors in ssh kitten config files.

Source

Thrown at kittens/ssh/main.go:912

		return 1, err
	}
	defer func() {
		f.Close()
		os.Remove(f.Name())
	}()
	_, err = io.Copy(f, os.Stdin)
	if err != nil {
		return 1, err
	}
	cd := &connection_data{
		request_id: "testing", remote_args: []string{},
		username: "testuser", hostname_for_match: "host.test", request_data: true,
		test_script: args[0], echo_on: true,
	}
	opts, bad_lines, err := load_config(cd.hostname_for_match, cd.username, nil, f.Name())
	if err == nil {
		if len(bad_lines) > 0 {
			return 1, fmt.Errorf("Bad config lines: %s with error: %s", bad_lines[0].Line, bad_lines[0].Err)
		}
		cd.host_opts = opts
		err = get_remote_command(cd)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return 1, err
	}
	data, err := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"cmd": cd.rcmd, "shm_name": cd.shm_name})
	if err == nil {
		_, err = os.Stdout.Write(data)
		os.Stdout.Close()
	}
	if err != nil {
		return 1, err
	}

	return
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Fix or remove the reported line in the config file (the error prints the exact line and reason)
2. Check option spelling against the kitty docs for your kitty version
3. Validate config after upgrades — option names change between kitty releases

Example fix

# before (ssh.conf)
share_cnx yes

# after
share_connections yes

kitty +kitten ssh --config-file /dev/null host  # bypass suspicious config to isolate
kitty +runpy 'from kittens.ssh.config import load_config' # smoke-test config loading

When it happens

Trigger: load_config() returns err == nil but bad_lines is non-empty — a config file contains a line with invalid syntax or an unknown option.

Common situations: Typos in ~/.config/kitty/ssh.conf or per-host INCLUDEd files; options from a newer/older kitty version; copy-pasted config with stray characters.

Related errors

• Cannot use forward_remote_control=yes without share_connecti
• This should be run as kitten broadcast
• This should be run as kitten ssh
• Incorrect owner on pwfile: uid={shm.stats.st_uid} gid={shm.s
• Incorrect permissions on pwfile: 0o{mode:03o}

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/53cb5b98e159e715. Report an issue: GitHub.