From d0b80d75900385a54e0f8ca8b90f276909e86560 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Hawkins <32435876+hawkeye217@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:39:26 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] show config error message when starting in safe mode

---
 web/src/pages/ConfigEditor.tsx | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/web/src/pages/ConfigEditor.tsx b/web/src/pages/ConfigEditor.tsx
index 364c13252..f3c4d4099 100644
--- a/web/src/pages/ConfigEditor.tsx
+++ b/web/src/pages/ConfigEditor.tsx
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ function ConfigEditor() {
 
   const [restartDialogOpen, setRestartDialogOpen] = useState(false);
   const { send: sendRestart } = useRestart();
+  const initialValidationRef = useRef(false);
 
   const onHandleSaveConfig = useCallback(
     async (save_option: SaveOptions): Promise<void> => {
@@ -171,6 +172,33 @@ function ConfigEditor() {
     };
   }, [rawConfig, apiHost, systemTheme, theme, onHandleSaveConfig]);
 
+  // when in safe mode, attempt to validate the existing (invalid) config immediately
+  // so that the user sees the validation errors without needing to press save
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (
+      config?.safe_mode &&
+      rawConfig &&
+      !initialValidationRef.current &&
+      !error
+    ) {
+      initialValidationRef.current = true;
+      axios
+        .post(`config/save?save_option=saveonly`, rawConfig, {
+          headers: { "Content-Type": "text/plain" },
+        })
+        .then(() => {
+          // if this succeeds while in safe mode, we won't force any UI change
+        })
+        .catch((e: AxiosError<ApiErrorResponse>) => {
+          const errorMessage =
+            e.response?.data?.message ||
+            e.response?.data?.detail ||
+            "Unknown error";
+          setError(errorMessage);
+        });
+    }
+  }, [config?.safe_mode, rawConfig, error]);
+
   // monitoring state
 
   const [hasChanges, setHasChanges] = useState(false);