xai-org/grok-build · error

Failed to load config: {e}

Error message

Failed to load config: {e}

What it means

run_single_turn wraps any failure from xai_grok_shell::config::load_effective_config() in an anyhow context 'Failed to load config: {e}'. It means the effective configuration (TOML config file plus environment overrides) could not be read, found, or parsed, so no agent session can start.

Source

Thrown at crates/codegen/xai-grok-pager/src/headless.rs:783

    let cwd = match options.cwd {
        None => std::env::current_dir()?,
        Some(ref p) => dunce::canonicalize(p)?,
    };

    let mut emitter = HeadlessEmitter::new(options.output_format, options.json_schema.is_some());

    if options.include_partial_messages
        && options.output_format != OutputFormat::StreamingMessagesJson
    {
        eprintln!(
            "warning: --include-partial-messages only affects --output-format streaming-messages-json; ignoring it"
        );
    }

    let t_spawn = Instant::now();
    let raw_config = xai_grok_shell::config::load_effective_config()
        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to load config: {e}"))?;
    let mut agent_config = AgentConfig::new_from_toml_cfg(&raw_config)
        .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Failed to create agent config: {e}"))?;

    // Only canonical tokens are stamped early; remapped menu ids need the post-session catalog resolve below
    if let Some(ref token) = options.reasoning_effort
        && let Some(effort) = parse_canonical_effort_token(token)
    {
        agent_config.reasoning_effort_override = Some(effort);
    }
    // Stamp `-m` early so the initial system prompt uses it, not a later SetSessionModel.
    if let Some(ref model) = options.model {
        agent_config.default_model_override = Some(model.clone());
    }

    agent_config.resolve_runtime_fields(&xai_grok_shell::agent::config::RuntimeResolutionContext {
        raw_config: &raw_config,
        remote_settings: None,
        is_headless: true,

View on GitHub (pinned to bc7f02eddd)

Solutions

1. Read the inner {e} message; it states the exact file path and parse error
2. Run with an explicitly valid config path / restore a known-good config.toml
3. Validate the TOML with a linter (e.g. taplo) before restarting
4. Reinstall or regenerate default config via the shell's init command if the file is corrupted

Example fix

// before: blindly loading config
let raw_config = xai_grok_shell::config::load_effective_config()?;
// after: check existence and fail with an actionable message
let path = xai_grok_shell::config::default_config_path();
anyhow::ensure!(path.exists(), "config not found at {}; run the init command", path.display());
let raw_config = xai_grok_shell::config::load_effective_config()?;

let path = xai_grok_shell::config::default_config_path();
if !path.exists() {
    eprintln!("config missing at {} — run init or set the config path", path.display());
    std::process::exit(2);
}
if let Err(e) = std::fs::read_to_string(&path).and_then(|s| toml::from_str::<toml::Value>(&s).map_err(std::io::Error::other).map(|_| ())) {
    eprintln!("config invalid: {e}");
    std::process::exit(2);
}

fn config_readable(path: &std::path::Path) -> bool {
    path.is_file() && std::fs::read_to_string(path)
        .map(|s| toml::from_str::<toml::Value>(&s).is_ok())
        .unwrap_or(false)
}

match xai_grok_shell::config::load_effective_config() {
    Ok(cfg) => cfg,
    Err(e) => { eprintln!("Failed to load config: {e:#}"); std::process::exit(2); }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling run_single_turn (headless single-turn run) when load_effective_config() fails: the config file path is set but missing/unreadable, the TOML is syntactically invalid, or an env-var override has an invalid value.

Common situations: First run with no config file at the expected location; hand-edited config.toml with a typo; XDG_CONFIG_HOME or a config-path env var pointing to the wrong directory; config written by a newer version with unknown keys/types.

Related errors

• Failed to create agent config: {e}
• config root is not a table
• disabled_mcp_tools is not a table
• refusing to overwrite unparseable {}: {}; fix the syntax bef
• Failed to load config: {e}

AI-assisted analysis of xai-org/grok-build@bc7f02eddd (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/24afe9627f1ee1ac. Report an issue: GitHub.