nikivdev/code · error

Specify a bookmark or pass --all

Error message

Specify a bookmark or pass --all

What it means

`flow push` requires you to say what to push. The wrapper refuses to guess: with --all it delegates to `jj git push --all`, otherwise it pushes a single named bookmark. If neither is supplied it throws this error instead of defaulting to pushing everything, which could publish unintended refs.

Source

Thrown at src/jj.rs:257

}

fn run_rebase(opts: JjRebaseOpts) -> Result<()> {
    let ctx = current_context()?;
    ensure_git_not_busy(&ctx.repo_root)?;
    let remote = default_remote(&ctx.repo_root);
    let dest = opts.dest.unwrap_or_else(|| default_branch(&ctx.repo_root));
    let target = resolve_rebase_target(&ctx.workspace_root, &dest, &remote);
    jj_run_in(&ctx.workspace_root, &["rebase", "-d", &target.target])
}

fn run_push(opts: JjPushOpts) -> Result<()> {
    let ctx = current_context()?;
    ensure_git_not_busy(&ctx.repo_root)?;
    if opts.all {
        return jj_run_in(&ctx.workspace_root, &["git", "push", "--all"]);
    }
    let Some(bookmark) = opts.bookmark else {
        bail!("Specify a bookmark or pass --all");
    };
    jj_run_in(
        &ctx.workspace_root,
        &["git", "push", "--bookmark", &bookmark],
    )
}

fn run_sync(opts: JjSyncOpts) -> Result<()> {
    let ctx = current_context()?;
    ensure_git_not_busy(&ctx.repo_root)?;
    let snapshot = collect_status_snapshot(&ctx)?;
    let remote = opts
        .remote
        .unwrap_or_else(|| default_remote(&ctx.repo_root));
    let dest = opts.dest.unwrap_or_else(|| default_branch(&ctx.repo_root));
    let initial_target = resolve_rebase_target(&ctx.workspace_root, &dest, &remote);
    let sync_plan = build_sync_plan(
        &snapshot,

View on GitHub (pinned to a747e741ae)

Solutions

1. Pass the bookmark: `flow push --bookmark <name>` (or positional per CLI usage).
2. If you truly want every ref published, run `flow push --all`.
3. Run `jj bookmark list` first to find the bookmark you intend to push.

Example fix

// before
flow push
// after
flow push --bookmark main
// or
flow push --all

// shell
if [ -z "$BOOKMARK" ] && [ "$ALL" != "1" ]; then echo "need --bookmark <name> or --all" >&2; exit 2; fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `flow push` with neither a bookmark option nor the --all flag, i.e. opts.bookmark is None and opts.all is false in run_push.

Common situations: Typing `flow push` out of habit from git muscle memory (git push defaults to something sensible); forgetting the bookmark name flag; scripting the push without conditional args.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• jj {} failed: {}
• Usage: f hash <paths or unhash args>
• jj {} failed
• jj log failed in {}
• Lin.app is not running

AI-assisted analysis of nikivdev/code@a747e741ae (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/408c9ff81ba30f94. Report an issue: GitHub.