matryer/xbar · error

load default vars

Error message

load default vars

What it means

loadVariables (pkg/plugins/variables.go:84-85) wraps errors from loadVariablesFromPluginMetadata (run in a goroutine) with 'load default vars'. It means the plugin's own source file could not be read or its metadata parsed, so default variable values cannot be established. Reported as 'load default vars: open plugin source: ...' or '... metadata.Parse: ...'.

Source

Thrown at pkg/plugins/variables.go:85

}

func (p *Plugin) loadVariables() (map[string]interface{}, error) {
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	var defaultVars, jsonFileVars map[string]interface{}
	var defaultVarsErr, jsonFileVarsErr error
	wg.Add(1)
	go func() {
		defaultVars, defaultVarsErr = p.loadVariablesFromPluginMetadata()
		wg.Done()
	}()
	wg.Add(1)
	go func() {
		jsonFileVars, jsonFileVarsErr = p.loadVariablesFromJSONFile()
		wg.Done()
	}()
	wg.Wait()
	if defaultVarsErr != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(defaultVarsErr, "load default vars")
	}
	if jsonFileVarsErr != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(jsonFileVarsErr, "load json file vars")
	}
	// add the json file vars to the defaults,
	// and return them.
	for k, v := range jsonFileVars {
		defaultVars[k] = v
	}
	return defaultVars, nil
}

// loadVariablesFromJSONFile gets a list of environment variable friendly
// key=value pairs.
func (p *Plugin) loadVariablesFromJSONFile() (map[string]interface{}, error) {
	variablesJSONFilename := p.Command + variableJSONFileExt
	f, err := os.Open(variablesJSONFilename)
	if err != nil && os.IsNotExist(err) {

View on GitHub (pinned to d624239058)

Solutions

1. Reinstall or restore the plugin so p.Command points to an existing readable file.
2. Check the plugin source's `<xbar.var>` header annotations for syntax errors and fix them.
3. Use errors %+v formatting to see the full chain and identify whether it failed at open, read, or metadata.Parse.
4. Re-save plugin variables from the settings UI after repairing the plugin.

Example fix

// before
if _, err := os.Stat(p.Command); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("plugin missing: %w", err)
}
// after — skip stale plugins gracefully
if _, err := os.Stat(p.Command); err != nil {
	p.Debugf("skipping plugin %s: %v", p.CleanFilename(), err)
	return nil
}

if info, err := os.Stat(p.Command); err != nil {
	log.Printf("default vars unavailable: plugin source missing: %v", err)
} else if !info.Mode().IsRegular() || info.Mode().Perm()&0400 == 0 {
	log.Printf("plugin source not a readable regular file")
}

vars, err := p.loadVariables()
if err != nil {
	var wrappedErr error
	if errors.As(err, &wrappedErr) && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "load default vars") {
		log.Printf("metadata defaults failed, using saved vars only: %+v", err)
		return p.loadVariablesFromJSONFile()
	}
	return nil, err
}

When it happens

Trigger: p.Command (the plugin executable path) does not exist or is unreadable; the file exceeds the 1MB read limit path fails; metadata.Parse rejects malformed `<xbar.var>` declarations in the plugin script.

Common situations: The plugin binary was deleted/updated while its .vars.json remains; user installed a plugin from an untrusted source with broken var annotations; path with spaces or moved installation directory invalidates p.Command.

Related errors

• open plugin source
• metadata.Parse
• missing xbar.title
• missing xbar.desc
• missing xbar.image

AI-assisted analysis of matryer/xbar@d624239058 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2625681ecb2a5b9f. Report an issue: GitHub.