DVC ".dvc/config" config file error in CI

DVC parses .dvc/config at startup; if a section is malformed or a value is invalid, it raises a config file error and refuses to continue. The committed config, not the remote, is the problem.

What this error means

dvc commands fail with "config file error" naming .dvc/config and an offending option or section, immediately at startup.

ERROR: config file error: 'remote' section requires 'url' option:
.dvc/config

Common causes

A remote section is missing a required option

A hand-edited ['remote "storage"'] block lacks url or has a typo, so DVC cannot construct the remote.

An invalid or unknown config value

A boolean or path value is malformed, or an option name is wrong, and the config parser rejects it.

How to fix it

Fix the config with dvc remote commands

1. Read the option the error names in .dvc/config.
2. Correct it with dvc remote modify rather than hand-editing.
3. Commit the corrected .dvc/config and re-run.

dvc remote modify storage url s3://my-bucket/dvcstore
git add .dvc/config

Validate config locally before pushing

Run a lightweight DVC command that reads config to catch parse errors before CI.

dvc config --list

How to prevent it

• Edit remotes with dvc remote commands, not by hand.
• Run dvc config --list locally after config changes.
• Review .dvc/config diffs carefully in pull requests.

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