Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything · error · CliUsageError

Unexpected positional argument: ${arg}

Error message

Unexpected positional argument: ${arg}

What it means

CliUsageError thrown by parseArgs when a positional (non-flag) argument appears but repoValue is already set. The command accepts exactly one positional — the repository path — and a second one is rejected as unexpected.

Source

Thrown at scripts/lib/large-repo-benchmark.mjs:241

    if (arg.startsWith('--label=')) {
      label = arg.slice('--label='.length);
      continue;
    }
    if (arg === '--concurrency') {
      const raw = takeValue(argv, i, '--concurrency');
      concurrency = parseConcurrency(raw);
      i += 1;
      continue;
    }
    if (arg.startsWith('--concurrency=')) {
      concurrency = parseConcurrency(arg.slice('--concurrency='.length));
      continue;
    }
    if (arg.startsWith('-')) {
      throw new CliUsageError(`Unknown option: ${arg}`);
    }
    if (repoValue) {
      throw new CliUsageError(`Unexpected positional argument: ${arg}`);
    }
    repoValue = arg;
  }

  if (help) return { help: true };
  if (!repoValue) throw new CliUsageError('A repository path is required');
  if (outputValue === null || outputValue.trim() === '') {
    throw new CliUsageError('--output is required and must be non-empty');
  }
  if (!Number.isInteger(concurrency) || concurrency < 1 || concurrency > 32) {
    throw new CliUsageError('--concurrency must be an integer between 1 and 32');
  }

  const repoRoot = resolve(cwd, repoValue);
  if (!existsSync(repoRoot)) {
    throw new CliUsageError(`Repository path does not exist: ${repoValue}`);
  }
  if (!statSync(repoRoot).isDirectory()) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 32944829e7)

Solutions

1. Provide only one positional (the repository path); use --output for the report path.
2. Quote or escape shell globs that expand to multiple tokens.
3. Re-run with --help to confirm the single-positional contract.
4. If you meant the extra token as an option value, prefix it with the correct flag.

Example fix

# before
node benchmark-large-repo.mjs myrepo reports/out.json
# after
node benchmark-large-repo.mjs myrepo --output reports/out.json

const positionals = argv.filter(a => !a.startsWith('-'));
if (positionals.length > 1) { /* reject early */ }

try { const opts = parseArgs(argv); } catch (e) { if ((e as Error).name === 'CliUsageError') { console.error(e.message); process.exit(2); } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Passing two repository paths; a positional argument after the repo when an option was meant to be a flag (e.g. forgetting '--' or a flag prefix); trailing tokens that are not options.

Common situations: Specifying both a source and output as positionals instead of using --output; a stray token from a shell glob; misreading the usage and supplying extra positional arguments.

Related errors

• ${flag} requires a value
• Unknown option: ${arg}
• A repository path is required
• --output is required and must be non-empty
• --concurrency must be an integer between 1 and 32

AI-assisted analysis of Egonex-AI/Understand-Anything@32944829e7 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f77205560cfd32fe. Report an issue: GitHub.