rtk-ai/rtk · error · anyhow::Error

--codex cannot be combined with --auto-patch

Error message

--codex cannot be combined with --auto-patch

What it means

`rtk init --codex` runs its own fixed setup and never consults the patch machinery; the validation at src/hooks/init.rs:289 rejects PatchMode::Auto (--auto-patch) alongside it because patch mode only applies to the non-codex branch that --codex skips entirely.

Source

Thrown at src/hooks/init.rs:289

    hook_only: bool,
    codex: bool,
    patch_mode: PatchMode,
    ctx: InitContext,
) -> Result<()> {
    let InitContext { dry_run, .. } = ctx;
    // Validation: Codex mode conflicts
    if codex {
        if install_opencode {
            anyhow::bail!("--codex cannot be combined with --opencode");
        }
        if claude_md {
            anyhow::bail!("--codex cannot be combined with --claude-md");
        }
        if hook_only {
            anyhow::bail!("--codex cannot be combined with --hook-only");
        }
        if matches!(patch_mode, PatchMode::Auto) {
            anyhow::bail!("--codex cannot be combined with --auto-patch");
        }
        if matches!(patch_mode, PatchMode::Skip) {
            anyhow::bail!("--codex cannot be combined with --no-patch");
        }
        run_codex_mode(global, ctx)?;
    } else {
        // Validation: Global-only features
        if install_opencode && !global {
            anyhow::bail!("OpenCode plugin is global-only. Use: rtk init -g --opencode");
        }

        if install_cursor && !global {
            anyhow::bail!("Cursor hooks are global-only. Use: rtk init -g --agent cursor");
        }

        if install_windsurf && !global {
            anyhow::bail!("Windsurf support is global-only. Use: rtk init -g --agent windsurf");
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to d977e1c316)

Solutions

  1. Run `rtk init --codex` without patch flags — codex mode has no patching step to auto-approve
  2. If --auto-patch was for Claude Code patching, run it separately: `rtk init --auto-patch`
  3. Trim init invocations to one mode's flags at a time

Example fix

# before
rtk init --codex --auto-patch
# --codex cannot be combined with --auto-patch

# after
rtk init --codex
rtk init --auto-patch   # if patching for Claude Code was the goal
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

bash:
if [[ "$*" == *--codex* && "$*" == *--auto-patch* ]]; then
  echo "--codex and --auto-patch are mutually exclusive" >&2
  exit 2
fi
rtk init "$@"

Type guard

rust:
enum PatchMode { Ask, Auto, Skip }
fn codex_patch_conflict(codex: bool, pm: PatchMode) -> bool {
    codex && matches!(pm, PatchMode::Auto)
}

Try / catch

rust:
// clap-level: #[arg(long, conflicts_with = "auto_patch")] codex: bool,
if let Err(e) = init::run(...) {
    if e.to_string().contains("--codex cannot be combined with --auto-patch") { exit(2); }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: `rtk init --codex --auto-patch`. The flags parse; init's validation matches patch_mode against PatchMode::Auto and bails with the conflict named.

Common situations: Users copying a full-featured init line from team docs (`rtk init --auto-patch --codex ...`); scripted bootstrap accumulating every 'yes' flag; upgrades where --auto-patch was previously harmless to combine.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of rtk-ai/rtk@d977e1c316 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31f0431c72e32362. Report an issue: GitHub.