windmill-labs/windmill · error

git_repos field expects an array of repos

Error message

git_repos field expects an array of repos

What it means

This error is thrown by Windmill's YAML ansible-playbook parser when a `git_repos` key inside an ansible requirement's `delegate_to_git_repo`/reqs section is present but its value is not a YAML array (sequence). The parser expects a list of repo maps that it will convert into GitRepo entries for cloning before the playbook runs. Any non-array value (map, string, scalar) fails the `Yaml::Array` destructuring and aborts parsing with this message.

Source

Thrown at backend/parsers/windmill-parser-yaml/src/lib.rs:574

                        return Err(anyhow!("Vault ID field expects an array of strings in the format: `label@filename`"));
                    };

                    for f in filenames {
                        let Yaml::String(filename) = f else {
                            return Err(anyhow!("The elements of the vault_id field should be strings in the format: `label@filename`"));
                        };
                        validate_vault_id(filename)?;
                        ret.vault_id.push(filename.to_string());
                    }
                }
                Yaml::String(key) if key == "options" => {
                    if let Yaml::Array(opts) = &value {
                        ret.options = parse_ansible_options(opts);
                    }
                }
                Yaml::String(key) if key == "git_repos" => {
                    let Yaml::Array(repos) = &value else {
                        return Err(anyhow!("git_repos field expects an array of repos"));
                    };

                    for r in repos {
                        ret.git_repos.push(
                            parse_git_repo(r)
                                .map_err(|e| anyhow!("Failed to parse git repo: {e}"))?,
                        );
                    }
                }
                Yaml::String(key) if key == "git_ssh_identity" => {
                    extract_ssh_identity(&value, &mut ret.git_ssh_identity)?;
                }
                Yaml::String(key) if key == "delegate_to_git_repo" => {} // Skip this because it was already parsed before
                Yaml::String(key) => logs.push_str(&format!("\nUnknown field `{}`. Ignoring", key)),
                _ => (),
            }
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Wrap the git_repos value in a YAML sequence: each repo becomes a `- url: ...` list item
2. Ensure correct indentation so `git_repos:` is a key whose children are list items, not a nested map
3. If only one repo is needed, still use a one-element list
4. Validate the YAML structure locally (e.g. serde_yaml/yaml-lint) before deploying the asset

Example fix

# before
git_repos:
  url: https://github.com/org/repo.git
  target: repo

# after
git_repos:
  - url: https://github.com/org/repo.git
    target: repo

fn validate_git_repos(value: &serde_yaml::Value) -> Result<(), String> {
    match value.get("git_repos") {
        None => Ok(()),
        Some(v) => match v {
            serde_yaml::Value::Sequence(_) => Ok(()),
            other => Err(format!("git_repos must be a list, got: {:?}", other)),
        },
    }
}

fn is_yaml_array(v: &Yaml) -> bool {
    matches!(v, Yaml::Array(_))
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling parse_ansible_reqs (via parse_assets or the parser asset pipeline) on a YAML playbook asset where the `git_repos` field is written as a map, a single repo object without list brackets, a string, or a null instead of a YAML sequence of repo maps.

Common situations: Indentation mistakes that flatten a list into a single mapping; writing `git_repos: url: ...` (one repo inline) instead of `git_repos:` followed by `- url: ...`; templating tools emitting a dict where a list is expected; copy-pasting a single repo config from another tool.

Related errors

• Failed to parse git repo: {e}
• git_ssh_identity expects an array of windmill variables (or
• Git ssh identity file must be a string path to a Windmill va
• Should be a Map
• Expected `url` field

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c26ad710825afa94. Report an issue: GitHub.