urfave/cli · error

goimports needed

Error message

goimports needed

What it means

LintActionFunc runs goimports -l over the codebase and fails the build with this error if the output is non-empty, meaning at least one file is not formatted according to goimports. It is an intentional lint gate, not a runtime fault: some source files need import fixes or formatting.

Source

Thrown at scripts/build.go:647

	)
}

func LintActionFunc(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) error {
	topDir := cmd.String("top-dir")
	if err := os.Chdir(topDir); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	out, err := sh(ctx, filepath.Join(topDir, ".local/bin/goimports"), "-l", ".")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if strings.TrimSpace(out) != "" {
		fmt.Fprintln(cmd.ErrWriter, "# ---> goimports -l is non-empty:")
		fmt.Fprintln(cmd.ErrWriter, out)

		return errors.New("goimports needed")
	}

	return nil
}

func V3Diff(ctx context.Context, cmd *cli.Command) error {
	if err := os.Chdir(cmd.String("top-dir")); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	err := runCmd(
		ctx,
		"diff",
		"--ignore-all-space",
		"--minimal",
		"--color="+func() string {
			if cmd.Bool("color") {
				return "always"

View on GitHub (pinned to 1a4deb4f5a)

Solutions

1. Run goimports -w . (or gofmt -s -w .) on the repo to auto-fix all listed files, then re-run lint.
2. Configure your editor to run goimports on save so files are formatted before commit.
3. If CI disagrees with local results, align the Go/goimports toolchain version with CI.

Example fix

// before (CI step)
./build lint  # fails: goimports needed
// after
add a pre-commit/CI step: goimports -l -w . && ./build lint

out, err := exec.Command("goimports", "-l", ".").Output()
if err == nil && len(out) == 0 {
	// safe to proceed
}

if err := lint(ctx, cmd); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "goimports needed") {
		if fix := exec.Command("goimports", "-w", "."); fix.Run() == nil {
			return lint(ctx, cmd) // retry after auto-format
		}
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Committing code with unsorted/mis-formatted imports or gofmt divergence, then running the lint action (e.g. ./build lint). Any file listed by goimports -l triggers it.

Common situations: Editing files without running goimports, merge conflicts resolved with stray formatting, adding imports manually in the wrong group, or a different local goimports version than CI.

Related errors

• empty github token
• parse error
• got nil/empty layouts slice
• invalid value %q for argument %s: %v
• args %s has max 0, not parsing argument

AI-assisted analysis of urfave/cli@1a4deb4f5a (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cc39af34a7470aa7. Report an issue: GitHub.