kovidgoyal/kitty · error · SystemExit

No custom kitten named {kitten} found

Error message

No custom kitten named {kitten} found

What it means

The conf generator entry point for custom kittens resolves the kitten source under the kitty config dir; if resolved_kitten/path_to_custom_kitten yields no directory, it raises SystemExit saying no custom kitten of that name exists.

Source

Thrown at kitty/conf/generate.py:739

    return '\n'.join(lines)


def main() -> None:
    # To use run it as:
    # kitty +runpy 'from kitty.conf.generate import main; main()' /path/to/kitten/file.py
    import importlib
    import sys

    from kittens.runner import path_to_custom_kitten, resolved_kitten
    from kitty.constants import config_dir

    kitten = sys.argv[-1]
    if not kitten.endswith('.py'):
        kitten += '.py'
    kitten = resolved_kitten(kitten)
    path = os.path.realpath(path_to_custom_kitten(config_dir, kitten))
    if not os.path.dirname(path):
        raise SystemExit(f'No custom kitten named {kitten} found')
    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(path))
    package_name = os.path.basename(os.path.dirname(path))
    m = importlib.import_module('kitten_options_definition')
    defn = getattr(m, 'definition')
    loc = package_name
    cls, tc = generate_class(defn, loc)
    with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), 'kitten_options_types.py'), 'w') as f:
        f.write(f'{cls}\n')
    with open(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(path), 'kitten_options_parse.py'), 'w') as f:
        f.write(f'{tc}\n')

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Verify the kitten file exists under the custom kittens directory
2. Pass the correct kitten name (with or without .py consistently)
3. Set KITTY_CONFIG_DIRECTORY to the right config dir

Example fix

# before
python -m kitty.conf.generate my_kitten
# after
mkdir -p ~/.config/kittens/my_kitten && python -m kitty.conf.generate my_kitten

import os
from kitty.constants import config_dir
candidate = os.path.join(config_dir, 'kittens', kitten_name)  # adjust per path_to_custom_kitten
exists = os.path.isdir(candidate) or os.path.isfile(candidate + '.py')

When it happens

Trigger: Running the options-definitions generator with a kitten name that has no corresponding file/directory in the custom kittens config folder.

Common situations: Generating docs/type stubs for a custom kitten that was renamed, not installed in ~/.config/kittens, or invoked from the wrong config dir.

Related errors

• Could not find the geninclude file: {val}, ignoring
• Could not find included config file: {val}, ignoring
• The PNG image: %s could not be opened with error: %s
• This should be run as kitten broadcast
• No option named: {k}

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/da3cd5d7779d09c9. Report an issue: GitHub.