netbirdio/netbird · error

create service config: %w

Error message

create service config: %w

What it means

Thrown while building the system service definition for `netbird service install`. createServiceConfigForInstall calls newSVCConfig, which in practice only fails when the extra service environment variables cannot be parsed, so this wrap almost always carries a parseServiceEnvVars failure underneath.

Source

Thrown at client/cmd/service_installer.go:119

		}
	}

	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
		svcConfig.Option["OnFailure"] = "restart"
	}

	return nil
}

// Create fully configured service config for install/reconfigure
func createServiceConfigForInstall() (*service.Config, error) {
	if err := validateJSONSocketFlags(); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	svcConfig, err := newSVCConfig()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create service config: %w", err)
	}

	svcConfig.Arguments = buildServiceArguments()
	if err = configurePlatformSpecificSettings(svcConfig); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("configure platform-specific settings: %w", err)
	}

	return svcConfig, nil
}

var installCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "install",
	Short: "Install NetBird service",
	RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
		if err := setupServiceCommand(cmd); err != nil {
			return err
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 93e97f4bf1)

Solutions

1. Rewrite each --service-env entry as KEY=VALUE, e.g. --service-env NB_LOG_LEVEL=debug,CUSTOM_VAR=value
2. Quote the whole flag value in the shell so commas and '=' survive intact
3. Remove stray entries like a trailing comma producing an empty element
4. Re-run sudo netbird service install

Example fix

# before
netbird service install --service-env NB_LOG_LEVEL
# after
netbird service install --service-env NB_LOG_LEVEL=debug

func validEnvEntries(entries []string) error {
	for _, e := range entries {
		if e == "" {
			continue
		}
		if k, _, ok := strings.Cut(e, "="); !ok || strings.TrimSpace(k) == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("bad entry %q: want KEY=VALUE", e)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

if err := validEnvEntries(serviceEnvVars); err != nil {
	return err
}

if err := createServiceConfigForInstall(); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("create service config: %w", err)
}
// The chain contains 'parse service environment variables'; surface the offending entry to the user instead of retrying.

When it happens

Trigger: `netbird service install --service-env FOO` (entry without '='), `--service-env "=value"` (empty key), or a value containing a comma that StringSliceVar splits into a bogus second entry.

Common situations: Passing env vars shell-style (`--service-env NB_LOG_LEVEL debug`), forgetting quotes so the shell mangles the list, or values with commas splitting into entries that are not KEY=VALUE.

Related errors

• install service: %w
• check service status: %w
• remove service params: %w
• watcher closed unexpectedly
• %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of netbirdio/netbird@93e97f4bf1 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/95c16af2efcab438. Report an issue: GitHub.