windmill-labs/windmill · error

❌ YAML syntax error in wmill.yaml: ${yamlError} Please

Error message

❌ YAML syntax error in wmill.yaml:
   ${yamlError}
   Please fix the YAML syntax in wmill.yaml or delete the file to start fresh.

What it means

readConfigFile caught a YAML parse failure while loading wmill.yaml and re-raises it annotated with the underlying parser error, since every sync command depends on this file and cannot continue with a corrupt config.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/core/conf.ts:312

      );
      process.exit(1);
    }

    return typeof conf == "object" ? conf : ({} as SyncOptions);
  } catch (e) {
    if (
      e instanceof Error &&
      (e.message.includes("overrides") ||
        e.message.includes("Obsolete configuration format"))
    ) {
      throw e; // Re-throw the specific obsolete format error
    }

    // Since we already found the file path, this is likely a parsing or access error
    if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes("Error parsing yaml")) {
      const yamlError =
        e.cause instanceof Error ? e.cause.message : String(e.cause);
      throw new Error(
        "❌ YAML syntax error in wmill.yaml:\n" +
          "   " +
          yamlError +
          "\n" +
          "   Please fix the YAML syntax in wmill.yaml or delete the file to start fresh."
      );
    } else {
      // File exists but has other issues (permissions, etc.)
      throw new Error(
        "❌ Failed to read wmill.yaml:\n" +
          "   " +
          (e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)) +
          "\n" +
          "   Please check file permissions or fix the syntax."
      );
    }
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Fix the YAML at the line/column shown in the embedded parser error (common causes: tabs, bad indentation, unquoted colons).
2. Validate with a YAML linter.
3. Delete wmill.yaml and re-run `wmill init` if it is dispensable.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/core/conf.ts:312 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5dbde1b09fdefeaf. Report an issue: GitHub.