neoclide/coc.nvim · error · Error

Unable to getCallHierarchyItem at current position

Error message

Unable to getCallHierarchyItem at current position

What it means

Thrown when a call-hierarchy request (incoming/outgoing calls) is made at a cursor position where no LSP server can prepare a CallHierarchyItem. The language server returned no result for prepareCallHierarchy at that position, so there is nothing to operate on.

Source

Thrown at src/handler/callHierarchy.ts:168

    return items
  }

  private async prepare(doc: TextDocument, position: Position, token: CancellationToken): Promise<CallHierarchyItem[] | undefined> {
    this.handler.checkProvider(ProviderName.CallHierarchy, doc)
    const res = await languages.prepareCallHierarchy(doc, position, token)
    return isCallHierarchyItem(res) ? [res] : res
  }

  private async getCallHierarchyItems(item: CallHierarchyItem | undefined, kind: 'outgoing'): Promise<CallHierarchyOutgoingCall[]>
  private async getCallHierarchyItems(item: CallHierarchyItem | undefined, kind: 'incoming'): Promise<CallHierarchyIncomingCall[]>
  private async getCallHierarchyItems(item: CallHierarchyItem | undefined, kind: 'incoming' | 'outgoing'): Promise<(CallHierarchyIncomingCall | CallHierarchyOutgoingCall)[]> {
    const { doc, position } = await this.handler.getCurrentState()
    const source = new CancellationTokenSource()
    if (!item) {
      await doc.synchronize()
      let res = await this.prepare(doc.textDocument, position, source.token)
      item = res ? res[0] : undefined
      if (!res) throw new Error('Unable to getCallHierarchyItem at current position')
    }
    let method = kind == 'incoming' ? 'provideIncomingCalls' : 'provideOutgoingCalls'
    return await languages[method](doc.textDocument, item, source.token)
  }

  public async getIncoming(item?: CallHierarchyItem): Promise<CallHierarchyIncomingCall[] | undefined> {
    return await this.getCallHierarchyItems(item, 'incoming')
  }

  public async getOutgoing(item?: CallHierarchyItem): Promise<CallHierarchyOutgoingCall[] | undefined> {
    return await this.getCallHierarchyItems(item, 'outgoing')
  }

  public async showCallHierarchyTree(kind: 'incoming' | 'outgoing'): Promise<void> {
    const { doc, position, winid } = await this.handler.getCurrentState()
    await doc.synchronize()
    if (!languages.hasProvider(ProviderName.CallHierarchy, doc.textDocument)) {
      void window.showErrorMessage(`CallHierarchy provider not found for current document, it's not supported by your languageserver`)

View on GitHub (pinned to 50e974d969)

Solutions

1. Place the cursor directly on a function/method symbol before invoking call hierarchy
2. Confirm the language server supports callHierarchy (check :CocCommand workspace diagnostics / server capabilities)
3. Explicitly pass a CallHierarchyItem to getIncoming/getOutgoing instead of relying on cursor position

Example fix

// before
const incoming = await callHierarchy.getIncoming() // cursor not on symbol
// after
const items = await callHierarchy.getCallHierarchyItems()
if (items) const incoming = await callHierarchy.getIncoming(items[0])

const providers = await coc.prompts // no public API; instead check server capabilities via workspace
// practical pre-check: ensure cursor is on a word/symbol
const char = await nvim.eval('getline(".")[col(".")-1]');
if (!/\w/.test(char)) return undefined; // not on a symbol

try {
  const incoming = await callHierarchy.getIncoming();
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('Unable to getCallHierarchyItem')) {
    // notify: cursor not on a symbol or server lacks callHierarchy support
    return undefined;
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling handler/services getIncoming()/getOutgoing() without an item while the cursor is on a non-symbol position (whitespace, comment, keyword not supported), or the server does not implement callHierarchy provider.

Common situations: Cursor placed inside a comment or string; running :CocCommand on a symbol type the server doesn't register; server lacks callHierarchy capability.

Related errors

• ${uri} changed before apply edit
• Action "${action.title}" is disabled: ${action.disabled.reas
• Format provider not found for buffer: ${doc.bufnr}
• ${id} provider not found for current buffer, your language s
• Inlay hint provider not found for current document

AI-assisted analysis of neoclide/coc.nvim@50e974d969 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f2fddf3f6631576. Report an issue: GitHub.