kovidgoyal/kitty · error

Failed to open %s for reading with error: %w

Error message

Failed to open %s for reading with error: %w

What it means

edit_in_kitty could not os.Open the target file path for reading. The underlying OS error is wrapped; typical causes are the file not existing or the process lacking read permission on it. The function aborts with exit code 1 before doing anything else.

Source

Thrown at tools/cmd/edit_in_kitty/main.go:182

		return 1, tui.Canceled
	}

	ds := lp.DeathSignalName()
	if ds != "" {
		fmt.Print(abort_msg)
		if kill_if_signaled {
			lp.KillIfSignalled()
			return
		}
		return 1, &tui.KilledBySignal{Msg: fmt.Sprint("Killed by signal: ", ds), SignalName: ds}
	}
	return
}

func edit_in_kitty(path string, opts *Options) (exit_code int, err error) {
	read_file, err := os.Open(path)
	if err != nil {
		return 1, fmt.Errorf("Failed to open %s for reading with error: %w", path, err)
	}
	defer read_file.Close()
	var s unix.Stat_t
	err = unix.Fstat(int(read_file.Fd()), &s)
	if err != nil {
		return 1, fmt.Errorf("Failed to stat %s with error: %w", path, err)
	}
	if s.Size > int64(opts.MaxFileSize)*1024*1024 {
		return 1, fmt.Errorf("File size %s is too large for performant editing", humanize.Bytes(uint64(s.Size)))
	}

	file_data, err := io.ReadAll(read_file)
	if err != nil {
		return 1, fmt.Errorf("Failed to read from %s with error: %w", path, err)
	}
	read_file.Close()
	data := strings.Builder{}
	data.Grow(len(file_data) * 4)

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Confirm the path exists and is a regular file: ls -l <path>
2. Use an absolute path to rule out CWD-relative resolution issues
3. Fix permissions (or run with appropriate privileges) if the file exists but is unreadable
4. If the file is being moved/deleted concurrently, re-resolve the path right before invoking the editor

Example fix

# before
edit-in-kitty ./notes/../notes/old.txt   # ENOENT
# after
edit-in-kitty "$(realpath old.txt)"

// Resolve and check the file before calling the editor
abs, err := filepath.Abs(path)
if err != nil { return err }
if info, err := os.Stat(abs); err != nil || info.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("not an editable regular file: %s", abs)
}

func isEditableFile(path string) bool {
    info, err := os.Stat(path)
    return err == nil && info.Mode().IsRegular()
}

code, err := editInKitty(path, opts)
if err != nil && errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
    // file vanished: re-prompt user or re-resolve path
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling edit_in_kitty with a path that doesn't exist, is a dangling symlink, is a directory, or resides where the user has no read permission (or with a stale NFS handle).

Common situations: Editing a file that was just deleted/moved by another process, race between picking a file in a file manager and opening it, wrong CWD-relative path, or running as a user without access to root-owned files.

Related errors

• %s is not readable and writeable
• failed to read the directory %s with error: %w
• Could not find any writable data directories. Make sure XDG_
• Could not find any writable portals directories. Make sure X
• Cannot read from: %s with error: %w

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3d41bc992447c7e4. Report an issue: GitHub.