wagoodman/dive · error

controller failed render

Error message

controller failed render: %w

What it means

Internal TUI error from the v1 UI controller: UpdateAndRender() calls Render() after a successful Update(), and this wraps any failure while flushing view state to the screen. It is raised when a visible view's Render() method (filetree, details, status bar) returns an error.

Solutions

1. Read the inner error returned by the failing view's Render() to find the pane at fault.
2. Enlarge the terminal (at least ~80x20) and re-run.
3. Use --json output mode instead of the TUI if the environment cannot host an interactive terminal.
4. If reproducible with a specific image, file an upstream issue with the image reference.

When it happens

Trigger: A visible view failing during screen flush: filetree rendering with a node whose data is inconsistent, or a gocui view writing outside its bounds after an abrupt resize. Only views where IsVisible() is true are rendered, so it depends on the current screen state.

Common situations: Tiny terminal windows where panes have zero usable area; terminal emulators sending resize events mid-keypress; images with pathologically deep filetrees overflowing buffers.

Related errors

• controller failed update
• controller unable to switch to next pane
• controller unable to switch to previous pane
• controller unable to toggle view
• controller unable to update view

AI-assisted analysis of wagoodman/dive@d6c691947f (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02891ae515d0b65c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/dive/cli/internal/ui/v1/app/controller.go:123

	if c.views.Layer.CompareMode() == viewmodel.CompareAllLayers {
		c.views.Tree.SetTitle("Aggregated Layer Contents")
	} else {
		c.views.Tree.SetTitle("Current Layer Contents")
	}

	// update details and filetree panes
	return c.UpdateAndRender()
}

func (c *controller) UpdateAndRender() error {
	err := c.Update()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("controller failed update: %w", err)
	}

	err = c.Render()
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("controller failed render: %w", err)
	}

	return nil
}

// Update refreshes the state objects for future rendering.
func (c *controller) Update() error {
	for _, v := range c.views.Renderers() {
		err := v.Update()
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("controller unable to update view: %w", err)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

// Render flushes the state objects to the screen.
func (c *controller) Render() error {

View on GitHub (pinned to d6c691947f)