kovidgoyal/kitty · error

Terminal does not support querying the: %s

Error message

Terminal does not support querying the: %s

What it means

The choose_fonts kitten queries the terminal for capabilities (font_size, cell width/height, etc.) and expects a valid response. If the terminal answers with an invalid/unsupported indicator, this error is returned. It typically means the terminal is not kitty or lacks the required private query modes.

Source

Thrown at kittens/choose_fonts/ui.go:117

		h.lp.WakeupMainThread()
	}()
	h.draw_screen()
	return
}

func (h *handler) finalize() {
	if h.temp_dir != "" {
		os.RemoveAll(h.temp_dir)
		h.temp_dir = ""
	}
	h.lp.SetCursorVisible(true)
	h.lp.SetCursorShape(loop.BLOCK_CURSOR, true)
	h.graphics_manager.finalize()
}

func (h *handler) on_query_response(key, val string, valid bool) error {
	if !valid {
		return fmt.Errorf("Terminal does not support querying the: %s", key)
	}
	set_float := func(k, v string, dest *float64) error {
		if fs, err := strconv.ParseFloat(v, 64); err == nil {
			*dest = fs
		} else {
			return fmt.Errorf("Invalid response from terminal to %s query: %#v", k, v)
		}
		return nil
	}
	switch key {
	case "font_size":
		if err := set_float(key, val, &h.text_style.Font_sz); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	case "dpi_x":
		if err := set_float(key, val, &h.text_style.Dpi_x); err != nil {
			return err
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Run the kitten inside kitty itself
2. If under tmux/screen, enable escape passthrough or run kitty directly outside the multiplexer
3. Update kitty — older versions lack some query support

// verify TERM_PROGRAM=kitty before launching the kitten
if os.Getenv("TERM_PROGRAM") != "kitty" { return errors.New("run inside kitty") }

if err := h.on_query_response(k, v, valid); err != nil { fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "terminal lacks query support:", err); os.Exit(1) }

When it happens

Trigger: Running the choose_fonts kitten inside a terminal that does not implement kitty's font-size/cell-size query escape sequences, or where a query response arrives marked invalid.

Common situations: Running kitty kittens inside tmux/screen without proper passthrough, or in another terminal emulator (gnome-terminal, xterm) via the kitten CLI; nested sessions mangling DCS responses.

Related errors

• Failed to find the kitty executable, this kitten requires th
• Trying to send data when to pipe is nil
• Could not encode message to kitty with error: %w
• Failed to send message to kitty with I/O error: %w
• The font specification %s is invalid as %s does not contain

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e6121ac7a502a431. Report an issue: GitHub.