kida-template-debugging

---

name: kida-template-debugging description: Debug Kida template errors: UndefinedError, TemplateSyntaxError, TemplateRuntimeError, unexpected output. Use when template rendering fails, variables are undefined, or output is wrong.

Kida Template Debugging

Quick Diagnosis

Error	Cause	Fix
UndefinedError	Missing context variable	Use template.validate_context(ctx) before render; add variable to context or use | default()
TemplateSyntaxError	Invalid syntax	Check block endings ({% end %}), tag spelling, hyphen in block names
TemplateRuntimeError	Error during render	Check filter args, None access, index out of range
TemplateNotFoundError	Template file missing	Verify loader path, check filename spelling
Unexpected output	Expression semantics	Check + operator (list vs string), {% export %} accumulation

Pre-Render Validation

Catch missing variables before rendering:

missing = template.validate_context(user_context)
if missing:
    raise ValueError(f"Missing template variables: {missing}")
result = template.render(**user_context)

Exception Types

from kida import (
    TemplateError,
    TemplateSyntaxError,
    TemplateRuntimeError,
    TemplateNotFoundError,
    UndefinedError,
)

Common Fixes

Undefined Variable

• Typo: {{ usre.name }} → {{ user.name }}
• Not passed: Add variable to render() call
• Optional: {{ user.nickname | default("Anonymous") }}
• Nested None: Use {% if page.parent %}{{ page.parent.title }}{% end %} or | default()

Syntax Errors

• Missing {% end %}: Every {% if %}, {% for %}, {% block %} needs {% end %}
• Hyphen in block name: Use settings_status not settings-status (K-PAR-006)

Runtime Errors

• Filter on None: {{ items | default([]) | length }}
• Index out of range: Check list bounds before access

Debug Tools

debug Filter

{{ user | debug }}
{{ posts | debug("my posts") }}

Outputs to stderr with structure. Use during development.

Source Snippet

from kida import build_source_snippet

try:
    template.render()
except UndefinedError as e:
    if e.source_snippet:
        print(e.source_snippet.lines)
        print(e.source_snippet.error_line)
    print(e.format_compact())  # Recommended: includes hint, docs link

Error Codes

Code	Category	Description
K-RUN-001	Runtime	Undefined variable
K-RUN-002	Runtime	Type error in expression
K-RUN-004	Runtime	Filter execution error
K-PAR-002	Parser	Unclosed block tag
K-PAR-006	Parser	Invalid identifier (hyphen in name)
K-TPL-001	Template	Template not found

Access: e.code → ErrorCode.K_RUN_001, e.code.value → "K-RUN-001"

List vs String Pitfall

{% export members = members + [m] %} must stay list concatenation. If + incorrectly stringifies, iteration over the result produces character-by-character output. See kida-expression-semantics skill for details.

Best Practices

1. Validate context before render in CI or build pipelines
2. Use | default() for optional variables
3. Check before access: {% if user and user.profile %}
4. Log with format_compact() for clean error output in production