option --list-fields conflicts with option --format

Error message

option --list-fields conflicts with option --format

What it means

--list-fields prints only the available field names, which is incompatible with an explicit --format that controls instance output rendering. listAction rejects the combination since output can only serve one purpose.

Source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/list.go:165

	yq, err := cmd.Flags().GetStringArray("yq")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	filter, err := cmd.Flags().GetStringArray("filter")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if jsonFormat {
		format = "json"
	}

	// conflicts
	if jsonFormat && cmd.Flags().Changed("format") {
		return errors.New("option --json conflicts with option --format")
	}
	if listFields && cmd.Flags().Changed("format") {
		return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --format")
	}
	if len(yq) != 0 {
		if cmd.Flags().Changed("format") && format != "json" && format != "yaml" {
			return errors.New("option --yq only works with --format json or yaml")
		}
		if listFields {
			return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --yq")
		}
	}
	if len(filter) != 0 {
		if listFields {
			return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --filter")
		}
	}

	if quiet && format != "table" {
		return errors.New("option --quiet can only be used with '--format table'")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

Run `limactl list --list-fields` alone to enumerate fields
Use `--format json` in a separate call when you need formatted instance data

Example fix

// before
limactl list --list-fields --format json
// after
limactl list --list-fields
limactl list --format json

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if slices.Contains(os.Args, "--list-fields") && slices.Contains(os.Args, "--format") {
    os.Args = slices.DeleteFunc(os.Args, func(a string) bool { return strings.HasPrefix(a, "--format") })
}

Try / catch

if err := runList(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "--list-fields conflicts with --format") { /* run two separate commands */ }
    return err
}

Prevention

Treat --list-fields as a standalone discovery command
Never add format flags to discovery calls

When it happens

Trigger: Running `limactl list --list-fields --format json` (or any --format) — listFields is true and the format flag was explicitly set.

Common situations: Trying to get field names in a machine-readable format for scripting; combining a discovery step with a formatting step in one call.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b9eb49e4c16f380. Report an issue: GitHub.