Cannot perform this operation because you are in a macro

Error message

Cannot perform this operation because you are in a macro

What it means

The `.edit` REPL command is disallowed inside macro execution: `config.read().macro_flag` is true while a macro is running, and editing files interactively mid-macro would be unsafe, so the command bails with this error.

Solutions

Move the .edit command out of the macro and run it directly at the REPL prompt
Remove the .edit line from your macro file
Edit the config/role/session file manually with your own editor instead of .edit

Example fix

// macro file — before
.edit config
.model gpt-4
// after: run .edit interactively, keep macro to non-interactive commands
.model gpt-4

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

// guard macros against interactive commands
const MACRO_FORBIDDEN: &[&str] = &[".edit"];
if MACRO_FORBIDDEN.iter().any(|c| line.starts_with(c)) {
    eprintln!("{} cannot run inside a macro", line);
}

Try / catch

match run_repl_command(...).await {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("you are in a macro") => {
        eprintln!("Run .edit outside of macros");
    }
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Never put .edit lines in macro files
Keep macros limited to non-interactive commands (.model, .save role, prompts)
Review macro scripts for interactive-only commands before .source-ing them

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `.edit` (e.g. `.edit config`, `.edit role`, `.edit session`) from within a macro (a file loaded via `.source` or a macro invocation) rather than typing it directly at the REPL prompt.

Common situations: A macro script contains an `.edit` line; copy-pasting a block of commands that includes `.edit` while a macro is active; nesting macros that call .edit.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of sigoden/aichat@82976d349a (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b88fce1e283a6272. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/repl/mod.rs:520

                None => {
                    let banner = config.read().agent_banner()?;
                    config.read().print_markdown(&banner)?;
                }
            },
            ".save" => match split_first_arg(args) {
                Some(("role", name)) => {
                    config.write().save_role(name)?;
                }
                Some(("session", name)) => {
                    config.write().save_session(name)?;
                }
                _ => {
                    println!(r#"Usage: .save <role|session> [name]"#)
                }
            },
            ".edit" => {
                if config.read().macro_flag {
                    bail!("Cannot perform this operation because you are in a macro")
                }
                match args {
                    Some("config") => {
                        config.read().edit_config()?;
                    }
                    Some("role") => {
                        config.write().edit_role()?;
                    }
                    Some("session") => {
                        config.write().edit_session()?;
                    }
                    Some("rag-docs") => {
                        Config::edit_rag_docs(config, abort_signal.clone()).await?;
                    }
                    Some("agent-config") => {
                        config.write().edit_agent_config()?;
                    }
                    _ => {

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