matryer/xbar · error

ansi

Error message

ansi

What it means

This error occurs when the "ansi" key in a plugin item's parameter string cannot be parsed as a boolean. setValueByKey calls parseBool for the ansi value and wraps the failure with the key "ansi". It means the ansi= value (controlling ANSI color code processing) is not a valid boolean literal.

Source

Thrown at pkg/plugins/item_params.go:255

			return errors.Wrap(err, key)
		}
	case "alternate":
		var err error
		p.Alternate, err = parseBool(value)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, key)
		}
	case "emojize":
		var err error
		p.Emojize, err = parseBool(value)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, key)
		}
	case "ansi":
		var err error
		p.ANSI, err = parseBool(value)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, key)
		}
	default:
		if strings.HasPrefix(key, "param") {
			paramIndex, err := strconv.Atoi(key[5:])
			if err != nil {
				return errors.Errorf("bad parameter: %s (should be paramN)", key)
			}
			for len(p.ShellParams) < paramIndex {
				// ensure the slice is big enough
				p.ShellParams = append(p.ShellParams, "")
			}
			p.ShellParams[paramIndex-1] = value
			return nil
		}
		return errors.Errorf("unknown parameter: %s", key)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to d624239058)

Solutions

1. Set ansi=true or ansi=false (1/0, t/f also accepted).
2. Replace on/off/yes/no style values with true/false.
3. Ensure the value is non-empty after '=' in the metadata line.
4. Remove the key to accept the default (ansi is true by default).

Example fix

// before
params := "ansi=on"
// after
params := "ansi=true"

re := regexp.MustCompile(`ansi=(true|false|1|0|t|f|TRUE|FALSE|True|False|T|F)\b`)
if strings.Contains(params, "ansi=") && !re.MatchString(params) {
    return errors.New("ansi must be true or false")
}

func isGoBool(s string) bool {
    _, err := strconv.ParseBool(strings.TrimSpace(s))
    return err == nil
}

if err := item.ParseParams(raw); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "ansi") {
        log.Printf("bad ansi value in %q: %v; using default", raw, err)
        raw = removeParam(raw, "ansi")
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Parsing a param string containing 'ansi=on', 'ansi=yes', 'ansi=' (empty), or any value strconv.ParseBool rejects.

Common situations: Authors enabling/disabling ANSI escape handling in terminal output copy on/off conventions from other tools, or leave the value blank when toggling by deleting the word.

Related errors

• refresh
• dropdown
• trim
• alternate
• emojize

AI-assisted analysis of matryer/xbar@d624239058 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/40ad8d961773a961. Report an issue: GitHub.