What causes "URL path kind does not match Auth kind" in sxyazi/yazi?

Make the path kind match the auth kind — use a Unix path for Unix/Sftp auths and an OS path for local auths.

URL path kind does not match Auth kind

Error message

URL path kind does not match Auth kind

What it means

validate_auth_path pairs an AuthArc with a PathDyn and checks they agree: the auth's path kind (derived from its scheme) must equal the path's kind. A mismatch (e.g. Unix auth with an OS/Windows path) means the URL was assembled from incompatible parts, so validation fails. It also checks hub parent depth consistency after this check.

Source

Thrown at yazi-shared/src/url/cow.rs:207

	where
		S: serde::Serializer,
	{
		self.as_url().serialize(serializer)
	}
}

impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for UrlCow<'_> {
	fn deserialize<D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<Self, D::Error>
	where
		D: Deserializer<'de>,
	{
		UrlBuf::deserialize(deserializer).map(UrlCow::from)
	}
}

fn validate_auth_path(auth: &AuthArc, path: PathDyn) -> Result<()> {
	auth.validate()?;
	ensure!(auth.path_kind()? == path.kind(), "URL path kind does not match Auth kind");

	if auth.kind.is_hub() {
		ensure!(
			auth.parent_depth() == path.components().auth_depth(),
			"Hub URL parent depth does not match its path"
		);
	}
	Ok(())
}

#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
	use super::*;
	use crate::url::UrlLike;

	#[test]
	fn test_parse() -> Result<()> {
		crate::init_tests();

View on GitHub (pinned to 8ebf930f17)

Solutions

Make the path kind match the auth kind — use a Unix path for Unix/Sftp auths and an OS path for local auths.
Reconstruct the URL from its canonical parts (scheme, auth, loc) using the Url/UrlBuf constructors instead of splicing raw paths.
Regenerate serialized state with the same platform/version that will consume it.

Example fix

// before
let cow = UrlCow::try_from((unix_auth, PathDyn::os("C:\\data")))?;
// after
let cow = UrlCow::try_from((unix_auth, PathDyn::unix("/data")))?;

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// before constructing UrlCow
if auth.path_kind()? != path.kind() {
    return Err(anyhow!("auth/path kind mismatch"));
}

Type guard

fn kinds_match(auth: &AuthArc, path: PathDyn) -> bool { auth.path_kind().map(|k| k == path.kind()).unwrap_or(false) }

Try / catch

// on deserialization
let cow = UrlCow::try_from(raw).context("invalid serialized URL: auth/path mismatch")?;

Prevention

Construct URLs from canonical parts rather than splicing raw path strings.
Don't move serialized URL state across platforms without regenerating it.
Check path kind against scheme whenever assembling auth + path manually.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `UrlCow::try_from(...)` or `with_ports` with an auth and path whose kinds disagree — e.g. deserializing a URL whose auth is Sftp/Unix but whose path component is a Windows-style OS path, or vice versa.

Common situations: Hand-editing or migrating serialized URL/auth state across platforms; constructing UrlCow manually from mixed sources (Unix loc + OS path); restoring a cache written on a different OS.

Understand the failure class

Background: Type mismatch errors: IllegalArgumentException, TypeError and type guards across 150 open-source libraries — this error's family across 150 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of sxyazi/yazi@8ebf930f17 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a6429db8e518180f. Report an issue: GitHub.