rtk-ai/rtk · error

Vibe support is global-only. Use: rtk init -g --agent vibe

Error message

Vibe support is global-only. Use: rtk init -g --agent vibe

What it means

Like Gemini, Vibe agent integration in rtk is global-only: setup_vibe bails unless `global` is true, because Vibe is configured in the user's home directory (~/.vibe via resolve_vibe_dir), not per project. The error states the corrected command using the newer --agent syntax.

Solutions

  1. Rerun with the global flag: `rtk init -g --agent vibe`
  2. Remove any stale local hook config expecting per-project Vibe support
  3. If different behavior per project is needed, gate via Vibe's own config rather than rtk's

Example fix

// before
rtk init --agent vibe
// after
rtk init -g --agent vibe
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// shell check before invoking
if ! [[ "$*" == *" -g"* ]]; then echo "Vibe requires global: rtk init -g --agent vibe" >&2; exit 2; fi

Try / catch

rtk init --agent vibe || { echo "retrying globally"; rtk init -g --agent vibe; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `rtk init --agent vibe` without -g, or `rtk init --vibe` without -g, i.e. any run where setup_vibe receives global=false. Also triggered by scripts calling the init path programmatically with global=false and patch_mode set.

Common situations: Trying to scope Vibe hooks to one repo; copying an init command from a teammate who already had it globally; upgrading rtk and re-running an old project-local init script.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of rtk-ai/rtk@0924356b4c (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d9fc693bac47359. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/hooks/init.rs:6204

fn resolve_vibe_dir() -> Result<PathBuf> {
    resolve_home_subdir(VIBE_DIR)
}

/// Entry point for `rtk init -g --agent vibe`.
///
/// Installs a `pre_tool` hook into `~/.vibe/hooks.toml` (Vibe CLI's hook
/// registry, see https://docs.mistral.ai/vibe/code/cli/hooks) that routes
/// bash tool calls through the native `rtk hook vibe` binary. When not
/// `hook_only`, also drops an `~/.vibe/prompts/rtk.md` system prompt file
/// as a belt-and-suspenders fallback if the hook is disabled.
pub fn run_vibe_mode(
    global: bool,
    hook_only: bool,
    patch_mode: PatchMode,
    ctx: InitContext,
) -> Result<()> {
    if !global {
        anyhow::bail!("Vibe support is global-only. Use: rtk init -g --agent vibe");
    }
    let vibe_dir = resolve_vibe_dir()?;
    run_vibe_mode_at(&vibe_dir, hook_only, patch_mode, ctx)
}

fn run_vibe_mode_at(
    vibe_dir: &Path,
    hook_only: bool,
    patch_mode: PatchMode,
    ctx: InitContext,
) -> Result<()> {
    let InitContext { dry_run, .. } = ctx;
    if !dry_run {
        fs::create_dir_all(vibe_dir)
            .with_context(|| format!("Failed to create Vibe config dir: {}", vibe_dir.display()))?;
    }

    let hooks_path = vibe_dir.join(VIBE_HOOKS_FILE);

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