kovidgoyal/kitty · warning

Unknown kitty terminfo query: {name}

Error message

Unknown kitty terminfo query: {name}

What it means

A terminal query of the form kitty-query-<name> was received whose name is not a registered terminfo query, so kitty replies with just the encoded query name (empty result) and logs the unknown name.

Source

Thrown at kitty/terminfo.py:551

        if x is None:
            return f'0+r{encoded_query_name}'
        if x is True:
            return f'1+r{encoded_query_name}'
        return f'1+r{encoded_query_name}={hexlify(str(x).encode("utf-8")).decode("ascii")}'

    for encoded_query_name in query_string.split(';'):
        name = qname = unhexlify(encoded_query_name).decode('utf-8')
        if name in ('TN', 'name'):
            yield result(encoded_query_name, names[0])
        elif name.startswith('kitty-query-'):
            from kittens.query_terminal.main import get_result

            name = name[len('kitty-query-') :]
            rval = get_result(name, window_id, os_window_id)
            if rval is None:
                from .utils import log_error

                log_error('Unknown kitty terminfo query:', name)
                yield result(encoded_query_name)
            else:
                yield result(encoded_query_name, rval)
        elif name in ('query-os-name', 'query-os_name'):
            # https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/9217
            yield result(encoded_query_name, os.uname().sysname)
        else:
            if name in bool_capabilities:
                yield result(encoded_query_name, True)
                continue
            try:
                val = queryable_capabilities[name]
            except KeyError:
                try:
                    qname = termcap_aliases[name]
                    val = queryable_capabilities[qname]
                except Exception:
                    from .utils import log_error

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Update kitty to the latest version so newer query names are recognized
2. Use only documented kitty-query names from kitty's terminfo/extension docs
3. Clients should tolerate an empty reply as 'unsupported' rather than retrying

When it happens

Trigger: get_capabilities receives a query starting with 'kitty-query-' where get_result returns None — e.g. a client asking for kitty-query-something-invalid.

Common situations: Client library probing for kitty extensions with guessed names, or version skew where the client knows queries this kitty build doesn't implement.

Related errors

• The value {val} is not a valid choice for terminfo_type
• Failed to compile the terminfo database
• Invalid response from terminal to %s query: %#v
• This must be run as kitten ask
• This should be run as kitten broadcast

AI-assisted analysis of kovidgoyal/kitty@6d5d0c4406 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2926f8a13f68ad3c. Report an issue: GitHub.