wavetermdev/waveterm · error

opening secrets UI: %w

Error message

opening secrets UI: %w

What it means

This wraps a failure of the CreateBlockCommand RPC that opens the secrets UI block in the given tab. The tab id was found (WAVETERM_TABID set) but the app-side call to create the block failed — timeout beyond 2000ms, invalid target tab, or an app-side block-creation error.

Source

Thrown at cmd/wsh/cmd/wshcmd-secret.go:198

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

	wshCmd := &wshrpc.CommandCreateBlockData{
		TabId: tabId,
		BlockDef: &waveobj.BlockDef{
			Meta: map[string]interface{}{
				waveobj.MetaKey_View: "waveconfig",
				waveobj.MetaKey_File: "secrets",
			},
		},
		Magnified: secretUiMagnified,
		Focused:   true,
	}

	_, err := wshclient.CreateBlockCommand(RpcClient, *wshCmd, &wshrpc.RpcOpts{Timeout: 2000})
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("opening secrets UI: %w", err)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Retry the command — transient slowness can exceed the 2000ms timeout.
2. Confirm the tab still exists (the tab id from WAVETERM_TABID); run from a fresh Wave terminal block to get a current id.
3. Ensure the wsh binary version matches the running Wave Terminal version (both bundled together).
4. Restart Wave Terminal if the app is unresponsive to block creation RPCs.

tabId := os.Getenv("WAVETERM_TABID")
if tabId == "" { return errors.New("no tab id; run inside a Wave terminal block") }

err := wshclient.CreateBlockCommand(RpcClient, *wshCmd, &wshrpc.RpcOpts{Timeout: 2000})
if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) { time.Sleep(500 * time.Millisecond); err = wshclient.CreateBlockCommand(RpcClient, *wshCmd, &wshrpc.RpcOpts{Timeout: 5000}) }
    if err != nil { return fmt.Errorf("opening secrets UI: %w", err) }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `wsh secret ui` when Wave is unresponsive (2s timeout), the tab referenced by WAVETERM_TABID was closed/stale, or the app rejects the BlockDef metadata for the secrets view.

Common situations: Wave busy rendering or frozen; stale WAVETERM_TABID after tab close; running wsh from a block in a tab that is being torn down; version mismatch between wsh binary and the running app.

Related errors

• reinstalling connection: %w
• disconnecting %q error: %w
• ensuring connection: %w
• create block failed: %v
• reading terminal output: %w

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cebc07f467a0a9b2. Report an issue: GitHub.