terminal asked for drag data from URI list but no list prese

Error message

terminal asked for drag data from URI list but no list present

What it means

The terminal asked for remote drag data from the text/uri-list drag source, but no drag source with a non-empty uri_list exists. The kitten finishes the drag with EINVAL and returns this error.

Source

Thrown at kittens/dnd/drag.go:488

		}
	} else {
		if x.file, err = os.Open(x.path); err != nil {
			dnd.finish_drag("EIO")
			return err
		}
		dnd.drag_status.current_remote_file = x
		if err = dnd.send_next_file_chunk(); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}
	return
}

func (dnd *dnd) on_drag_remote_data_request(idx int) (err error) {
	ds := dnd.drag_sources["text/uri-list"]
	if ds == nil || len(ds.uri_list) < 1 {
		dnd.finish_drag("EINVAL")
		return fmt.Errorf("terminal asked for drag data from URI list but no list present")
	}
	if idx < 0 || idx >= len(ds.uri_list) {
		dnd.finish_drag("EINVAL")
		return fmt.Errorf("terminal asked for drag data from URI list with out of bounds index: %d", idx)
	}
	ds.uri_list[idx].was_sent = true
	dnd.drag_status.remote_data_requests = append(dnd.drag_status.remote_data_requests, idx)
	if len(dnd.drag_status.remote_data_requests) == 1 {
		err = dnd.send_next_remote_data_request()
	}
	return
}

func (dnd *dnd) send_next_remote_data_request() (err error) {
	if len(dnd.drag_status.remote_data_requests) == 0 {
		return nil
	}
	i := dnd.drag_status.remote_data_requests[0]

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

Pass at least one valid file/directory path when using the kitten as a drag source
Update kitty to eliminate protocol mismatch where the terminal wrongly requests uri-list data
Report upstream if it happens with valid drag sources configured

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Validate before enabling remote drag: require at least one URI
if len(uriList) == 0 { return errors.New("pass at least one file to drag") }

Prevention

Always pass file arguments when dragging as a uri-list source
Check drag_sources["text/uri-list"] is populated before advertising remote capability

When it happens

Trigger: on_drag_remote_data_request is called when drag_sources["text/uri-list"] is nil or its uri_list is empty — i.e. the drag was started without any file/URI arguments but the terminal still requested remote data.

Common situations: Running the dnd kitten in drag-source mode with no file paths, or a terminal that incorrectly requests uri-list data from a text-only drag.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f424974a16f67570. Report an issue: GitHub.