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Updated 2 months ago

The mysterious error: "Unknown variable" when copying components

At a glance

Community members are experiencing an "Error: Unknown variable" when copying components from the Relume library, specifically affecting buttons with the "is-alternate" class. The issue appears to be related to changes in the library's variables that were not communicated. The Relume team has acknowledged the problem, released a hotfix, and is investigating a potential new bug. However, community members report that once the issue occurs, there is no easy or clean path forward, as deleting the problematic classes would be time-consuming. The recommended solution is to copy components directly from the library, and community members are advised to be cautious when importing new components. The Relume team is working on a more permanent fix, but an ETA is not provided.

Useful resources

PLEASE HELP — "Error: Unknown variable" when copying some components from Relume. I'm unable to fix the Style Guide. So far, seems to be specifically affecting Buttons with "is-alternate" combo classes. Every single component I bring in with button.is-alternate gives me this error. I cannot reset colors. There is no information about which variable I need to look into. I can't do anything. Has anyone else run into this problem? This is costing me hours of time just trying to fiddle with this.

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25 comments

I posted the same issue yesterday, couple msgs above. Still waiting on a response

yes, I posted the same problem earlier in the week, too. I have no idea how to fix this problem. It's not behaving like any other class styling issue where you can just reset the styles. You can't do anything! My whole project is jacked up now.

This is infuriating. I'm unable to do anything to fix this. No past articles/questions are helping. any ideas?

apologies for the delay. I escalated this to our CTO and he resolved a bug within the Library and variables and released a hot fix last night (our time). We're tracking a potentially new bug with third-party tools that import variables. So there appears to have been some infrastructure changes done to variables that we were not aware of that has caused this. The safest path forward considering your circumstances would be to copy from the library.

Let me know if you are still seeing any variable issues. Be sure to not delete any default variables as well.

the biggest issue that I see though is that once this happens, I don't see an "easy, clean" path forward - using your project as a testing area - because its the button class, I can't just delete all instances of that class and start over because that would take hours. But I would think starting from another fresh style guide, pasting in components and going from there should go smoothly now.

Thanks for the update, ! I'm relieved to hear it wasn't just human error. I appreciate your efforts to resolve this.

I DID start the project over completely last night after this happened to me again. So, third times a charm. My strategy at this point is to make a backup before I paste any new component into my project from the Relume Component Library.

I came across another variable error, though I didn't take a screenshot of it when pasting a CTA component. It was slightly different in that it said it was linked to a default variable that no longer existed—however, I had not deleted any variables at that point (nor will I).

I'll keep an eye on it. And yes, the "easy, clean" path is really the problem. Once this happens, there really is no viable way out of it.

re: I'll keep an eye on it. And yes, the "easy, clean" path is really the problem. Once this happens, there really is no viable way out of it.
yeah, which is absolutely terrifying and its not my client or deadline...so I can only imagine how you feel about all of this. Appreciate your grace here.

Fingers crossed.

When you get a second, let me know if you can, which CTA component and I'll get started on documenting the reproduction of that error for the team so we can get to the bottom of that sooner rather than later.

looks like they've addressed this — hope something helps you and your situation, too.

just confirming - this error you saw happened today? Or was it last night?

Deactivated member

Hey! I love everything Relume has been able to help me with so far! I actually am running into this same issue.

Just says "Error: Unknown Variable" for me.

Here's a read only link if this is helpful! It's on a page called "Onboarding" https://preview.webflow.com/preview/civilgg?utm_medium=preview_link&utm_source=designe[…]638c84b971&pageId=6745777b20ebb893cf175bc0&workflow=preview

okay, you should be able to reset the variable and choose a different one, but obviously quite annoying. The issue Nick is posing above is quite a bit different than just "unknown variable" issue - Engineering is currently looking into this as we speak.

Deactivated member

Hey , thank you a ton for responding.

I just recorded a 2 minute Loom showcasing the problem I'm having.

https://www.loom.com/share/07a8ef183c494291b73e63becf9071ec?sid=8d1531d9-9a8c-46d3-bd54-0dda6501e50e

Sincerely thank you for your time looking into this. Incredibly helpful

Hey Kenny - yeah it looks like you may have deleted the variables - and there's no real way to get them back. You also have a lot of duplicate classes.

So a couple of docs here:
https://www.relume.io/resources/docs/how-to-fix-and-prevent-class-duplication-in-webflow

Specifically to ensure that no more classes get duplicated, ensure that class sync is working properly - here are some tips:
https://www.relume.io/resources/docs/how-to-fix-and-prevent-class-duplication-in-webflow#troubleshooting-tips

But you'll first need to ensure that your project has no more duplications at all. Has to be completely clean of duplications.

As for the variables, if you are not seeing a "blue" label on the property, than you'll want to navigate to the top right to find the parent element that is driving the style, select it, and then you should see the blue label - from there you can reset (click on blue label, then click on reset) and then you'll have to choose a new variable. This is the only course forward without starting your project over. Unfortunately Webflow creates unique IDs so just adding back the variables won't magically work like you would think.

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Deactivated member

Thank you so much for the reply Matt, really. Going to do this now! Thank you!

I just made a new project and imported my relume to webflow and got the same issue. Are we sure this is fixed ?

we resolved one aspect of it - we're investigating a similar result, but different cause - if that makes sense. Unfortunately I do not have an ETA on when the fix would be deployed but I am hoping soon.

I see, will you let us know when it's fixed though? So we can resume the project.

one workaround would be to copy components from the webflow library or chrome extension rather than using the webflow app - but yeah not ideal at all obviously.

so if you wanted to at least get started building out the homepage, that might be a viable path to go for now.

Hey, do we have an ETA on this?

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