wavetermdev/waveterm · error

error expanding query home dir: %w

Error message

error expanding query home dir: %w

What it means

When the query itself starts with '~' or '~/', resolveFileQuery expands it with ExpandHomeDir and wraps any failure with this message. It distinguishes the failing query path from the earlier cwd expansion error at line 72.

Source

Thrown at pkg/suggestion/suggestion.go:83

	// If no current working directory, default to "~".
	if cwd == "" {
		cwd = "~"
	}
	var err error
	cwd, err = wavebase.ExpandHomeDir(cwd)
	if err != nil {
		return "", "", "", fmt.Errorf("error expanding home dir: %w", err)
	}
	if query == "" {
		return cwd, "", "", nil
	}
	// Expand home if needed.
	tildeSlash := "~" + PathSepStr
	if query == "~" || strings.HasPrefix(query, tildeSlash) {
		ogQuery := query
		query, err = wavebase.ExpandHomeDir(query)
		if err != nil {
			return "", "", "", fmt.Errorf("error expanding query home dir: %w", err)
		}
		if ogQuery == "~" || ogQuery == tildeSlash {
			return query, tildeSlash, "", nil
		}
	}
	// Handle absolute queries.
	if filepath.IsAbs(query) {
		if filepath.Dir(query) == query {
			return query, query, "", nil
		}
		if strings.HasSuffix(query, PathSepStr) {
			// Remove trailing slash for canonical directory path.
			baseDir := strings.TrimRight(query, PathSepStr)
			// But keep the trailing slash in the queryPrefix for display.
			queryPrefix := query
			return baseDir, queryPrefix, "", nil
		}
		// Otherwise, e.g. "/var/f"

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Set/fix the HOME environment variable so tilde expansion works
2. Send a fully expanded absolute path in Query instead of a tilde path
3. Check the wrapped error: if it is a user-lookup failure, the username in the tilde path is wrong

Example fix

// before
query := "~/projects"
resp, err := FetchSuggestions(ctx, wshrpc.FetchSuggestionsData{SuggestionType: "file", Query: query})
// after
home, _ := os.UserHomeDir()
resp, err := FetchSuggestions(ctx, wshrpc.FetchSuggestionsData{SuggestionType: "file", Query: filepath.Join(home, "projects")})

if strings.HasPrefix(query, "~") && os.Getenv("HOME") == "" {
    return errors.New("query uses ~ but HOME is not set")
}

func isTildeQuery(q string) bool { return q == "~" || strings.HasPrefix(q, "~/") }

expanded, err := wavebase.ExpandHomeDir(query)
if err != nil {
    log.Printf("tilde expansion failed for %q: %v", query, err)
    return fallbackSuggestions
}

When it happens

Trigger: FetchSuggestions with SuggestionType "file" and a Query like "~/docs" while ExpandHomeDir fails (HOME unset, user lookup error).

Common situations: Headless environments without HOME, remote connections where the user's home cannot be resolved, malformed queries combining '~' with a nonexistent user (e.g. '~baduser/').

Related errors

• error expanding home dir: %w
• setting auth key: %v
• electron executable path not set
• failed to build secret environment (ERR-SECRET): %w
• env string too large (max %d bytes)

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/30e24db7b75ec395. Report an issue: GitHub.