sipeed/picoclaw · warning

deltachat get config %s decode: %w

Error message

deltachat get config %s decode: %w

What it means

accountConfigChanged could not decode one managed key (managedAccountConfigKeys: addr, mail_server, mail_port, send_server, send_port, mail_pw) from JSON into *string. The direct caller degrades gracefully: deltachat.go:1002-1009 logs a warning and forces reconfiguration.

Source

Thrown at pkg/channels/deltachat/deltachat.go:1179

	})
	confCtx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, configureTimeout)
	defer cancel()
	if _, err := c.rpc.call(confCtx, "configure", accountID); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("deltachat configure (check email/password/server): %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

func (c *DeltaChatChannel) accountConfigChanged(ctx context.Context, accountID int64) (bool, error) {
	want := accountConfigMap(c.config)
	for _, key := range managedAccountConfigKeys {
		raw, err := c.rpc.call(ctx, "get_config", accountID, key)
		if err != nil {
			return false, fmt.Errorf("deltachat get config %s: %w", key, err)
		}
		var got *string
		if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &got); err != nil {
			return false, fmt.Errorf("deltachat get config %s decode: %w", key, err)
		}
		if !accountConfigValueEqual(got, want[key]) {
			logger.InfoCF("deltachat", "Account config changed; reconfiguring", map[string]any{
				"email": c.config.Email,
				"key":   key,
			})
			return true, nil
		}
	}
	return false, nil
}

func accountConfigValueEqual(got, want *string) bool {
	if want == nil {
		return got == nil || *got == ""
	}
	if got == nil {
		return *want == ""

View on GitHub (pinned to 49183d7e8d)

Solutions

1. Pin a deltachat-rpc-server version matching this client's assumptions
2. Log the raw response for the offending key to confirm the shape
3. Rely on the automatic reconfigure fallback and correct the mismatch in config if it loops

changed, err := c.accountConfigChanged(ctx, accountID)
if err != nil {
    // mirror deltachat.go:1002-1009: degrade to forced reconfigure instead of failing
    logger.WarnCF("deltachat", "config check failed; reconfiguring", map[string]any{"error": err.Error()})
    changed = true
}
if changed {
    return c.configureAccount(ctx, accountID)
}

When it happens

Trigger: json.Unmarshal(raw, &got) fails because get_config returned a non-string JSON value (number/object) for a managed key.

Common situations: Version skew where a deltachat-core release encodes ports as numbers or changes value shapes.

Related errors

• decode config %s: %w
• deltachat get_all_accounts decode: %w
• deltachat is_configured decode: %w
• decode process hook %q %s result: %w
• deltachat create chatmail account on %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of sipeed/picoclaw@49183d7e8d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b38d81c92b054db7. Report an issue: GitHub.