wavetermdev/waveterm · error

cannot use --replace and --magnified together

Error message

cannot use --replace and --magnified together

What it means

Returned by wsh web when both --replace and --magnified flags are set; they are mutually exclusive viewing modes.

Source

Thrown at cmd/wsh/cmd/wshcmd-web.go:112

	}
	return nil
}

func webOpenRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (rtnErr error) {
	defer func() {
		sendActivity("web", rtnErr == nil)
	}()

	var replaceBlockORef *waveobj.ORef
	if webOpenReplaceBlock != "" {
		var err error
		replaceBlockORef, err = resolveSimpleId(webOpenReplaceBlock)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("resolving -r blockid: %w", err)
		}
	}
	if replaceBlockORef != nil && webOpenMagnified {
		return fmt.Errorf("cannot use --replace and --magnified together")
	}

	tabId := getTabIdFromEnv()
	if tabId == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("no WAVETERM_TABID env var set")
	}

	wshCmd := wshrpc.CommandCreateBlockData{
		TabId: tabId,
		BlockDef: &waveobj.BlockDef{
			Meta: map[string]any{
				waveobj.MetaKey_View: "web",
				waveobj.MetaKey_Url:  args[0],
			},
		},
		Magnified: webOpenMagnified,
		Focused:   true,
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Drop --magnified when replacing a block
2. Drop --replace when a magnified new block is desired
3. Split into two commands if both behaviors are needed

Example fix

// before
wsh web open https://example.com --replace abc --magnified
// after
wsh web open https://example.com --replace abc

if webOpenReplaceBlock != "" && webOpenMagnified {
    return errors.New("cannot use --replace and --magnified together")
}

When it happens

Trigger: `wsh web open <url> --replace <oid> --magnified` — replaceBlockORef resolved successfully but webOpenMagnified is also true.

Common situations: Combining flags from an old command alias or script; misunderstanding that a replaced block cannot also be magnified.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

• cannot specify key with --all
• requires a key argument
• setbg requires an image path or color value
• no files or message provided
• too many files (maximum %d files allowed)

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1362bef794844385. Report an issue: GitHub.