From 0dee8a8d89fd44bd47f9447a0e63612a0989f067 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: voiys <matej2714@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2026 01:10:50 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Check for dependency cycles even when another item has an
 error

finishLoad returned before the cycle check when any item had a schema
error. An item on a cycle was then left unmarked, waited on itself when
values were resolved, and the CLI gave up with "varlock stopped before
the command finished" instead of showing either error.
---
 .bumpy/cycle-with-schema-error.md             |  5 +++++
 .../varlock/src/env-graph/lib/env-graph.ts    |  7 ++++---
 .../test/cycle-with-schema-error.test.ts      | 21 +++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .bumpy/cycle-with-schema-error.md
 create mode 100644 packages/varlock/src/env-graph/test/cycle-with-schema-error.test.ts

diff --git a/.bumpy/cycle-with-schema-error.md b/.bumpy/cycle-with-schema-error.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..45a15fbbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.bumpy/cycle-with-schema-error.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"varlock": patch
+---
+
+A dependency cycle is now reported even when another item has a schema error, instead of the load stopping with "varlock stopped before the command finished"
diff --git a/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/lib/env-graph.ts b/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/lib/env-graph.ts
index c6a89a42d..43e4ff08f 100644
--- a/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/lib/env-graph.ts
+++ b/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/lib/env-graph.ts
@@ -763,9 +763,8 @@ export class EnvGraph {
     }
     this.configItemsProcessed = true;
 
-    if (hasErrors) return;
-
-    // check for cycles in resolver dependencies
+    // check for cycles in resolver dependencies. This runs even when another item already has an error:
+    // an item on an unmarked cycle waits on itself forever when values are resolved
     const cycles = findGraphCycles(this.graphAdjacencyList);
     for (const cycleItemKeys of cycles) {
       for (const itemKey of cycleItemKeys) {
@@ -779,6 +778,8 @@ export class EnvGraph {
         );
       }
     }
+
+    if (hasErrors) return;
     this.checkBootDynamicItems();
 
     // now execute all root decorators
diff --git a/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/test/cycle-with-schema-error.test.ts b/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/test/cycle-with-schema-error.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d4fbfdca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/varlock/src/env-graph/test/cycle-with-schema-error.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import outdent from 'outdent';
+import { EnvGraph } from '../index';
+import { DotEnvFileDataSource } from '../lib/data-source';
+
+describe('a dependency cycle next to an unrelated schema error', () => {
+  it('is still reported, and resolving finishes', async () => {
+    const g = new EnvGraph();
+    await g.setRootDataSource(new DotEnvFileDataSource('.env.schema', {
+      overrideContents: outdent`
+        B=$B
+        C=$Z
+      `,
+    }));
+    await g.finishLoad();
+    // without the cycle error on B, this promise never settles
+    await g.resolveEnvValues();
+    expect(g.configSchema.B.errors.map((e) => e.message)).toContain('Item cannot have dependency on itself');
+    expect(g.configSchema.C.errors.map((e) => e.message)).toContain('ref(): invalid dependency: Z');
+  }, 5000);
+});