matryer/xbar · error

loadVariables

Error message

loadVariables

What it means

loadVariablesAsEnvVars (pkg/plugins/variables.go:58-60) wraps any error from p.loadVariables() with 'loadVariables'. loadVariables concurrently reads defaults from plugin metadata and the .vars.json override file; any failure in either source propagates through this wrapper when building the environment variables passed to the plugin process. The message is 'loadVariables: <wrapped cause>'.

Source

Thrown at pkg/plugins/variables.go:60

		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "Open")
	}
	defer f.Close()
	b, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(f, 1_000_000 /* ~1MB */))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "ReadAll")
	}
	var values map[string]interface{}
	err = json.Unmarshal(b, &values)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "json.Unmarshal")
	}
	return values, nil
}

func (p *Plugin) loadVariablesAsEnvVars() ([]string, error) {
	vars, err := p.loadVariables()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "loadVariables")
	}
	envvars := make([]string, 0, len(vars))
	for k, v := range vars {
		envvars = append(envvars, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%v", k, v))
	}
	return envvars, nil
}

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)

View on GitHub (pinned to d624239058)

Solutions

1. Look at the full wrapped chain (errors.Cause / %+v with pkg/errors) to see which sub-step (load default vars / load json file vars) failed.
2. Fix the underlying cause: restore the plugin file, repair or delete the .vars.json file, or fix the `<xbar.var>` annotations in the plugin source.
3. Verify p.Command points to an existing, readable plugin executable before running.
4. Handle this error in the Run path by falling back to defaults or showing the error in the menu bar instead of failing the plugin.

Example fix

// before
envvars, err := p.loadVariablesAsEnvVars()
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("run: %w", err)
}
// after — degrade gracefully
envvars, err := p.loadVariablesAsEnvVars()
if err != nil {
	p.Debugf("could not load variables, using none: %v", err)
	envvars = nil
}

if _, err := os.Stat(p.Command); err != nil {
	log.Printf("plugin %s missing, cannot build env vars: %v", p.Command, err)
}
if _, err := os.Stat(p.Command + ".vars.json"); err == nil {
	if b, err := os.ReadFile(p.Command + ".vars.json"); err == nil {
		var v map[string]interface{}
		if err := json.Unmarshal(b, &v); err != nil {
			log.Printf("vars json corrupt: %v", err)
		}
	}
}

envvars, err := p.loadVariablesAsEnvVars()
if err != nil {
	log.Printf("plugin vars unavailable, running without overrides: %+v", err)
	envvars = nil // run the plugin with no variable overrides
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a plugin whose executable/source (p.Command) cannot be read for metadata; the .vars.json file is corrupt or unreadable; metadata.Parse fails on malformed plugin script headers. Any of these bubbles up wrapped as 'loadVariables' when the plugin Run path builds env vars.

Common situations: User deletes or renames the plugin binary after installing variables; plugin script has broken `<xbar.var>` annotations that fail metadata parsing; vars file corrupted by a bad edit — all surface at plugin run time as this error instead of the plugin executing.

Related errors

• ReadDir
• json.MarshalIndent
• load default vars
• load json file vars
• open plugin source

AI-assisted analysis of matryer/xbar@d624239058 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48301d7439fd74c3. Report an issue: GitHub.