Errors and troubleshooting

Compiler diagnostics can change during experimental development. Include the CLI version, Git commit, backend, full command, and minimal source when reporting a problem.

Identify the Ku executable

ku --version
ku -h
ku check hello.ku

If ku is not found, invoke the executable from its extracted directory. Use ku.exe on Windows. If the default build is missing Rust or linking libraries, check the installation requirements and retain the complete archive layout, rather than copying only the CLI.

Read diagnostics

Normal checking reports the file, source location, source excerpt, and available repair guidance. Tool integrations can use:

ku check --json hello.ku

The output is JSON Lines, with one diagnostic per line. Fields include level, code, message, file, line, column, endLine, endColumn, notes, and helps. Success is silent; an absence of JSON output does not mean the check did not run.

Diagnostic	Common cause	What to do
E0105	Using let	Declare the variable through its first assignment
E0302	A non-bool if / while condition	Write an explicit boolean comparison
E0601	Unknown standard library module	Check the actual module path, such as std.json
E0605	Missing required explicit import	Import the module, for example import fs from "std.fs"
E0901	Reading a moved value	Explicitly clone an independent value, or use supported synchronous borrowing
E0913	Borrowed async parameter	Use an owned parameter; clone at the caller if the original is needed
E0918	Writing &value at the call site	Pass an ordinary argument; the signature declares borrowing

This summarizes registered diagnostics, rather than listing every error. The current authoritative registry is src/error.rs.

Runtime errors use a separate contract

Runtime Error domain/code values are separate from compiler E codes. Invalid JSON can return json/parse_error; a missing object key can return object/missing_key. Use ? after a fallible call, or read its fields in try/catch.

import json from "std.json"

fn main() {
    try {
        json.parse("[1,]")?
    } catch (error) {
        println(error.domain)
        println(error.code)
        println(error.message)
    }
}

This teaching program intentionally triggers a recoverable parse failure. A reported byte N is a zero based UTF-8 byte offset. It is not a character count around Chinese text or emoji.

A native build is rejected

Passing ku check only establishes that frontend checking succeeded. Native C and LLVM each have capability limits. Check the support matrix when a construct is explicitly rejected. Increasing a timeout or succeeding with another backend does not verify the unsupported path.

ku build --native file.ku without -o only writes C. To compile and link an executable, use ku build --backend c file.ku and install the target C toolchain.

Database errors execution_unknown and execution_completed_without_result must not trigger automatic replay. Retain request and business evidence and establish the actual execution state first.

For more detail, see the repository diagnostic guide.