kovidgoyal/kitty · error · ValueError

Unknown menu type: {parts[0]}. Known types: global

Error message

Unknown menu type: {parts[0]}. Known types: global

What it means

menu_map requires the first token to be the menu type; currently only 'global' is supported. Any other first token raises this error listing known types.

Source

Thrown at kitty/options/utils.py:1151

                if v:
                    v = expandvars(v, current_val)
                yield key, v
        else:
            yield val, DELETE_ENV_VAR


def store_multiple(val: str, current_val: Container[str]) -> Iterable[tuple[str, str]]:
    val = val.strip()
    if val not in current_val:
        yield val, val


def menu_map(val: str, current_val: Container[str]) -> Iterable[tuple[tuple[str, ...], str]]:
    parts = val.split(maxsplit=1)
    if len(parts) != 2:
        raise ValueError(f'Ignoring invalid menu action: {val}')
    if parts[0] != 'global':
        raise ValueError(f'Unknown menu type: {parts[0]}. Known types: global')
    start = 0
    if parts[1].startswith('"'):
        start = 1
        idx = parts[1].find('"', 1)
        if idx == -1:
            raise ValueError(f'The menu entry name in {val} must end with a double quote')
    else:
        idx = parts[1].find(' ')
        if idx == -1:
            raise ValueError(f'The menu entry {val} must have an action')
    location = ('global',) + tuple(parts[1][start:idx].split('::'))
    yield location, parts[1][idx + 1 :].lstrip()


allowed_shell_integration_values = frozenset({'enabled', 'disabled', 'no-rc', 'no-cursor', 'no-title', 'no-prompt-mark', 'no-complete', 'no-cwd', 'no-sudo'})


def shell_integration(x: str) -> frozenset[str]:

View on GitHub (pinned to 6d5d0c4406)

Solutions

1. Use 'global' as the menu type
2. Remove unsupported menu lines until kitty supports other scopes

Example fix

# before
menu main "Item" launch nvim
# after
menu global "Item" launch nvim

def is_menu_type(t: str) -> bool:
    return t == 'global'

When it happens

Trigger: menu main ... or menu tab ... — any type other than global.

Common situations: Expecting per-tab or per-window menus that kitty does not (yet) support; guessing type names.

Related errors

• Ignoring invalid menu action: {val}
• The menu entry name in {val} must end with a double quote
• 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/4b6b0caa060a6170. Report an issue: GitHub.