matryer/xbar · error

invalid named color "%s"

Error message

invalid named color "%s"

What it means

If the color value does not start with '#', parseColor looks it up in the namedColors map. This error means the value is neither a supported hex literal nor a recognized named color. Note the value is lower-cased before lookup, so casing is not the issue.

Source

Thrown at pkg/plugins/item_params.go:302

// parseColor parses the color value given.
// Valid values: named color, #RGB, #RGBA, #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA.
// Returns a nice error if it fails.
func parseColor(s string) (string, error) {
	if len(s) == 0 {
		return "", errors.Errorf("expected hex string or named color") // Probably an error?
	}
	s = strings.ToLower(s)
	if s[0] == '#' {
		// Matches #RGB #RGBA #RRGGBB #RRGGBBAA
		if !colorRegexp.Match([]byte(s)) {
			return "", errors.Errorf(`invalid hex format "%s"`, s)
		}
		return s, nil
	}
	hexValue, valid := namedColors[s]
	if !valid {
		return "", errors.Errorf(`invalid named color "%s"`, s)
	}
	return hexValue, nil
}

// parseInt parses an int from a string, returning a nice
// error if it fails.
func parseInt(s string) (int, error) {
	i, err := strconv.ParseInt(s, 10, 64)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, errors.Errorf(`expected an int, not "%s"`, s)
	}
	return int(i), nil
}

// truncate shrinks a string if it's too long.
func truncate(s string, max int) string {
	truncated, err := ansi.Truncate(s, max-1)
	if err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to d624239058)

Solutions

1. Use one of the library's supported named colors (red, blue, green, black, white, yellow, magenta, cyan, purple, etc.)
2. Switch to hex notation, e.g. color=#8A2BE2 for a custom color
3. Check spelling of the color name; lookup is case-insensitive but exact-match on the name

Example fix

// before
echo "Item | color=rebeccapurple"   // not in namedColors
// after
echo "Item | color=#663399"         // equivalent hex

var named = map[string]bool{"black":true,"red":true,"green":true,"yellow":true,"blue":true,"magenta":true,"cyan":true,"white":true}
if !strings.HasPrefix(color, "#") && !named[strings.ToLower(color)] {
    color = "#" + color // or fall back to a known named color
}

When it happens

Trigger: setValueByKey passes a non-'#' value absent from namedColors — e.g. color=blurple, color=rgb(255,0,0), color=#-less misspellings like color=grey vs an unsupported name, or locale words like color=rouge.

Common situations: Using CSS colors the library doesn't define (rebeccapurple), using rgb()/hsl() notation instead of hex or named colors, typos such as 'rad' or 'bleu'.

Related errors

• expected hex string or named color
• invalid hex format "%s"
• malformed xbar.var format (default not in select options)
• unknown xbar.var type: %s
• no plugin files

AI-assisted analysis of matryer/xbar@d624239058 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/205234cc60929c66. Report an issue: GitHub.