kovidgoyal/kitty · error · ValueError

{strategy} is not a valid disable ligatures strategy

Error message

{strategy} is not a valid disable ligatures strategy

What it means

disable_ligatures_in validates the strategy (second token, or first when only one is given) against never, always, cursor. Anything else raises ValueError naming the invalid strategy.

Source

Thrown at kitty/options/utils.py:412

    mult = 1
    sleep_time = sleep_time or '1'
    if sleep_time[-1] in 'shmd':
        mult = {'s': 1, 'm': 60, 'h': 3600, 'd': 24 * 3600}[sleep_time[-1]]
        sleep_time = sleep_time[:-1]
    return func, [abs(float(sleep_time)) * mult]


@func_with_args('disable_ligatures_in')
def disable_ligatures_in(func: str, rest: str) -> FuncArgsType:
    parts = rest.split(maxsplit=1)
    if len(parts) == 1:
        where, strategy = 'active', parts[0]
    else:
        where, strategy = parts
    if where not in ('active', 'all', 'tab'):
        raise ValueError(f'{where} is not a valid set of windows to disable ligatures in')
    if strategy not in ('never', 'always', 'cursor'):
        raise ValueError(f'{strategy} is not a valid disable ligatures strategy')
    return func, [where, strategy]


@func_with_args('layout_action')
def layout_action(func: str, rest: str) -> FuncArgsType:
    parts = rest.split(maxsplit=1)
    if not parts:
        raise ValueError('layout_action must have at least one argument')
    return func, [parts[0], tuple(parts[1:])]


def parse_marker_spec(ftype: str, parts: Sequence[str]) -> tuple[str, str | tuple[tuple[int, str], ...], int]:
    flags = re.UNICODE
    if ftype in ('text', 'itext', 'regex', 'iregex'):
        if ftype.startswith('i'):
            flags |= re.IGNORECASE
        if not parts or len(parts) % 2 != 0:
            raise ValueError('Mark group number and text/regex are not specified in pairs: {}'.format(' '.join(parts)))

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Use never, always, or cursor as the strategy
2. Remember order: where (optional) then strategy
3. Fix typos like 'curser'

Example fix

# before
disable_ligatures all on
# after
disable_ligatures all always

parts = rest.split(maxsplit=1)
where, strategy = ('active', parts[0]) if len(parts) == 1 else parts
if strategy not in ('never','always','cursor'):
    raise SystemExit(f'bad strategy: {strategy}')

def is_ligature_strategy(v: str) -> bool:
    return v in ('never','always','cursor')

When it happens

Trigger: `disable_ligatures all sometimes`, `disable_ligatures off`, or `disable_ligatures active on` — the strategy token is not one of never/always/cursor.

Common situations: Boolean-style values (on/off); misspelling 'cursor'; older kitty versions had different strategy names so shared dotfiles break on upgrade.

Related errors

• {where} is not a valid set of windows to disable ligatures i
• layout_action must have at least one argument
• This should be run as kitten broadcast
• No option named: {k}
• No custom kitten named {kitten} found

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/399745fd853ac630. Report an issue: GitHub.