Vx Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting guide for vx issues. Use when encountering installation failures, version conflicts, PATH issues, or other vx problems.

VX Troubleshooting Guide

Quick triage: Start with vx doctor for diagnostics. Use vx --debug <command> for detailed logs. Use vx cache clean to clear corrupted state. Check exit codes (2=tool not found, 3=install failed, 4=version not found, 5=network error).

Common Issues

Installation Failures

Tool Download Failed

Symptoms: Failed to download <tool>: network error or Connection refused

Solutions:

# Enable CDN acceleration (China users)
vx config set cdn_acceleration true

# Use mirror
vx install node --mirror https://npmmirror.com/mirrors/node

# Retry with verbose output
vx install node --verbose --debug

# Check cache and retry
vx cache clean
vx install node

Checksum Mismatch

Symptoms: Checksum mismatch: expected X, got Y

Solutions:

# Clear corrupted download
vx cache clean

# Reinstall with fresh download
vx install node@22 --force

Permission Denied

Symptoms: Permission denied or Access is denied

Solutions:

# Check VX_HOME permissions
ls -la ~/.vx

# Fix permissions (Unix)
chmod -R u+rw ~/.vx

# Run with elevated permissions if needed
sudo vx install node  # Not recommended, use user installation

Version Issues

Version Not Found

Symptoms: Version X not found for <tool>

Solutions:

# List available versions
vx versions node

# Use latest stable
vx install node@latest

# Use LTS version
vx install node@lts

# Check for typos
vx versions node | grep "20"

Version Conflict

Symptoms: Multiple versions installed, wrong version active

Solutions:

# List installed versions
vx list node --installed

# Switch to specific version
vx switch node@20

# Check which version is active
vx which node

# Remove conflicting versions
vx uninstall node@18

PATH Issues

Command Not Found

Symptoms: command not found: node after installation

Solutions:

# Verify vx shim directory is in PATH
echo $PATH | grep -o ".vx/bin"

# Add vx to PATH (add to shell config)
export PATH="$HOME/.vx/bin:$PATH"

# Or use vx directly
vx node --version

# Check shim exists
ls ~/.vx/bin/node

Wrong Version in PATH

Symptoms: System version takes precedence over vx version

Solutions:

# Check which executable is being used
which node
vx which node

# Reorder PATH (vx should come first)
export PATH="$HOME/.vx/bin:$PATH"

# Or use vx explicitly
vx node --version

Runtime Issues

Tool Crashes on Startup

Symptoms: Tool exits immediately or crashes

Solutions:

# Check tool version
vx which node
vx node --version

# Reinstall the tool
vx install node --force

# Check for missing dependencies
vx doctor

# Try with debug output
vx node --verbose script.js

Dependency Missing

Symptoms: error while loading shared libraries or DLL not found

Solutions:

# Check dependencies (Linux)
ldd $(vx which node)

# Install system dependencies
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev

# macOS (via Homebrew)
brew install openssl

# Windows - usually bundled, check PATH

Configuration Issues

vx.toml Not Loading

Symptoms: Settings in vx.toml ignored

Solutions:

# Verify file location
ls vx.toml

# Check syntax
vx check

# Validate configuration
vx config validate

# Show effective configuration
vx config show

Lock File Conflicts

Symptoms: vx.lock is out of sync

Solutions:

# Regenerate lock file
vx lock --update

# Or remove and regenerate
rm vx.lock
vx lock

Diagnostic Commands

System Information

# General diagnostics
vx doctor

# System info
vx info

# Environment check
vx check --json

# Show configuration
vx config show

Debug Mode

# Enable debug logging
vx --debug node --version

# Enable trace logging
vx --trace node --version

# Verbose output
vx --verbose install node

Cache Inspection

# Show cache location
vx cache dir

# Show cache size
vx cache info

# List cached items
vx cache list

# Clean cache
vx cache clean

Error Messages Reference

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Solution
Tool not found	Unknown tool name	Check vx list for available tools
Version not found	Invalid version	Use vx versions <tool> to see available
Network error	Connection issues	Check network, enable CDN, use mirror
Permission denied	Insufficient permissions	Check directory permissions
Checksum mismatch	Corrupted download	Run vx cache clean and retry
Out of disk space	Disk full	Clean cache: vx cache clean

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Tool not found
3	Installation failed
4	Version not found
5	Network error
6	Permission error
7	Configuration error

Recovery Procedures

Complete Reset

# Backup configuration
cp -r ~/.vx ~/.vx.backup

# Remove everything
rm -rf ~/.vx

# Reinstall
vx install node go uv

# Restore configuration
cp ~/.vx.backup/vx.toml ~/.vx/

Repair Installation

# Verify and repair
vx doctor --fix

# Reinstall all tools from vx.toml
vx sync --force

# Rebuild shims
vx shim rebuild

Getting Help

Collect Diagnostics

# Generate diagnostic report
vx doctor --output diagnostics.txt

# Include in bug report
cat diagnostics.txt

Useful Information to Provide

1. vx version: vx --version
2. Operating system: vx info | grep -i os
3. Command that failed
4. Error message (use --debug)
5. Contents of vx.toml (if applicable)
6. vx doctor output

Support Channels

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/loonghao/vx/issues
• Documentation: https://github.com/loonghao/vx#readme

Quick Triage for AI Agents

When a user reports a vx issue, follow this decision tree:

1. "command not found: vx"
   → vx is not installed. Run the install script.
   → Linux/macOS: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loonghao/vx/main/install.sh | bash
   → Windows: powershell -c "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/loonghao/vx/main/install.ps1 | iex"

2. "Failed to download" / "network error" (exit code 5)
   → Try: vx cache clean && vx install <tool> --verbose
   → If in China: vx config set cdn_acceleration true
   → Check if GITHUB_TOKEN is set for API rate limits

3. "version not found" (exit code 4)
   → Run: vx versions <tool> to list available versions
   → The user may have a typo in the version string
   → Try: vx install <tool>@latest

4. "permission denied" (exit code 6)
   → Check: ls -la ~/.vx (Unix) or icacls %USERPROFILE%\.vx (Windows)
   → Fix: chmod -R u+rw ~/.vx
   → Never use sudo with vx

5. Tool works but wrong version
   → Run: vx which <tool> to see which version is active
   → Check: vx.toml may specify a different version
   → Run: vx switch <tool>@<version>

6. vx.toml not being picked up (exit code 7)
   → Ensure file is in the project root (same dir as .git)
   → Run: vx check to validate syntax

7. CI failing with vx
   → Ensure the GitHub Action is used: loonghao/vx@main
   → Add github-token for rate limit avoidance
   → Use cache: 'true' for faster CI runs

8. General error (exit code 1)
   → Run: vx doctor for full diagnostics
   → Run: vx --debug <command> for detailed logs
   → Check: vx cache clean to clear corrupted state