shadowsocks/shadowsocks-rust · error

`server`, `server_port`, `method`, `password` must be provid

Error message

`server`, `server_port`, `method`, `password` must be provided together

What it means

This error is thrown when parsing a per-server entry in a shadowsocks-service config (the `servers` array, typically from a JSON config or URL) where the `server`, `server_port`, `method`, and `password` fields are only partially specified. The library requires these four fields to be either all present or all absent (with a special allowance for manager configs supplying none, which defaults the method). A partial combination is structurally ambiguous, so the parser rejects it with ErrorKind::Malformed.

Source

Thrown at crates/shadowsocks-service/src/config.rs:2230

                                },
                            },
                        };
                        nsvr.set_plugin(plugin);
                    }
                }

                if let Some(timeout) = config.timeout.map(Duration::from_secs) {
                    nsvr.set_timeout(timeout);
                }

                nconfig.server.push(ServerInstanceConfig::with_server_config(nsvr));
            }
            (None, None, None, Some(_)) if config_type.is_manager() => {
                // Set the default method for manager
            }
            (None, None, None, None) => (),
            _ => {
                let err = Error::new(
                    ErrorKind::Malformed,
                    "`server`, `server_port`, `method`, `password` must be provided together",
                    None,
                );
                return Err(err);
            }
        }

        // Ext servers
        if let Some(servers) = config.servers {
            for svr in servers {
                // Skip if server is disabled
                if svr.disabled.unwrap_or(false) {
                    continue;
                }

                let address = svr.server;
                let port = svr.server_port;

View on GitHub (pinned to 8eb0f0a65b)

Solutions

1. Add the missing fields so all of `server`, `server_port`, `method`, `password` are present in the server entry
2. Or remove all four fields if you intended an empty/default server entry (manager configs only)
3. Validate the JSON against the shadowsocks-service config schema before loading
4. Use `sslocal`/`ssserver` with a known-good example config as a base

Example fix

// before
{"servers": [{"server": "1.2.3.4", "server_port": 8388}]}
// after
{"servers": [{"server": "1.2.3.4", "server_port": 8388, "method": "aes-256-gcm", "password": "secret"}]}

let required = ["server", "server_port", "method", "password"];
let present: Vec<_> = required.iter().filter(|k| svr.get(k).map_or(false, |v| !v.is_null())).collect();
if !present.is_empty() && present.len() != required.len() {
    panic!("server entry must have all or none of {:?}, missing: {:?}", required, required.iter().filter(|k| !present.contains(k)).collect::<Vec<_>>());
}

fn is_complete_server_entry(svr: &serde_json::Value) -> bool {
    ["server", "server_port", "method", "password"].iter().all(|k| svr.get(k).map_or(false, |v| !v.is_null()))
}

match Config::load_from_file(path, ConfigType::Server) {
    Ok(c) => start(c),
    Err(e) => eprintln!("config rejected: {e}; check server entries have all of server/server_port/method/password"),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Config::load_from_str / load_from_file (or from_url for ss:// URLs) with a server object that has some but not all of `server`, `server_port`, `method`, `password` set — e.g. `server` and `server_port` present but `method` missing, or only `password` present.

Common situations: Hand-edited JSON configs where a field was accidentally deleted or commented out; template-generated configs where variable substitution left a field empty; migrating configs between schema versions where field names changed; copy-pasting a partial server block.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

• `protocol` invalid
• invalid `mode`
• missing `locals` for client configuration
• balancer.max_server_rtt must be > 0
• server method doesn't support Extended Identity Header (EIH)

AI-assisted analysis of shadowsocks/shadowsocks-rust@8eb0f0a65b (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/63f4027db149519d. Report an issue: GitHub.