wavetermdev/waveterm · error

json syntax error at line %d, col %d: %v

Error message

json syntax error at line %d, col %d: %v

What it means

Generic JSON syntax error wrapper emitted while reading Wave configuration files: when json.SyntaxError occurs and it is not detected as a trailing comma, the error is reported as 'json syntax error at line %d, col %d' with the raw syntax error appended. Results are collected as ConfigError and surfaced by GenerateWshClient, GenerateWaveObjMetaConsts, and GenerateSettingsMetaConsts.

Source

Thrown at pkg/wconfig/settingsconfig.go:540

		cerrs = append(cerrs, ConfigError{File: fileName, Err: readErr.Error()})
	}
	if len(barr) == 0 {
		return nil, cerrs
	}
	var rtn waveobj.MetaMapType
	err := json.Unmarshal(barr, &rtn)
	if err != nil {
		if syntaxErr, ok := err.(*json.SyntaxError); ok {
			offset := syntaxErr.Offset
			if offset > 0 {
				offset = offset - 1
			}
			lineNum, colNum := utilfn.GetLineColFromOffset(barr, int(offset))
			isTrailingComma := isTrailingCommaError(barr, int(offset))
			if isTrailingComma {
				err = fmt.Errorf("json syntax error at line %d, col %d: probably an extra trailing comma: %v", lineNum, colNum, syntaxErr)
			} else {
				err = fmt.Errorf("json syntax error at line %d, col %d: %v", lineNum, colNum, syntaxErr)
			}
		}
		cerrs = append(cerrs, ConfigError{File: fileName, Err: err.Error()})
	}

	// Resolve environment variable replacements
	if rtn != nil {
		resolveEnvReplacements(rtn)
	}

	return rtn, cerrs
}

func readConfigFileFS(fsys fs.FS, logPrefix string, fileName string) (waveobj.MetaMapType, []ConfigError) {
	barr, readErr := fs.ReadFile(fsys, fileName)
	if readErr != nil {
		// If we get an error, we may be using the wrong path separator for the given FS interface. Try switching the separator.
		barr, readErr = fs.ReadFile(fsys, filepath.ToSlash(fileName))

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Go to the reported line/column and fix the syntax error indicated by the wrapped message
2. Validate the whole file with a strict JSON parser to catch additional errors
3. Restore the file from a backup or let Wave regenerate defaults if the file is corrupted
4. Check for editor auto-substitutions (smart quotes) or unescaped backslashes in strings

Example fix

// before (settings.json)
{ 'term:disable': false }
// after
{ "term:disable": false }

if err := json.Valid(data); !err {
    var se *json.SyntaxError
    json.Unmarshal(data, &any) // force syntax error capture
    _ = se
    return fmt.Errorf("invalid JSON config")
}

if err := readConfig(); err != nil {
    var cerrs []wconfig.ConfigError
    if errors.As(err, &cerrs) {
        for _, ce := range cerrs { log.Printf("%s: %s", ce.File, ce.Err) }
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any malformed JSON in a Wave config file other than a trailing comma: unclosed braces, unquoted keys, single quotes, invalid escapes, stray characters at the reported line/col.

Common situations: Typos when hand-editing settings.json or presets files; partial file writes after a crash; accidentally saving the file as JSON5/JSONC syntax that strict JSON rejects; template placeholders like {{var}} left unexpanded.

Related errors

• json syntax error at line %d, col %d: probably an extra trai
• error reading config file: %v
• failed to marshal backup metadata: %w
• invalid format of user@host argument
• unexpected output from uname: %s

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8b19d2ebe77e043d. Report an issue: GitHub.