GoogleChrome/lighthouse · error · Error

${pluginName} has no valid category.

Error message

${pluginName} has no valid category.

What it means

Error "${pluginName} has no valid category." thrown in GoogleChrome/lighthouse.

Source

Thrown at core/config/config-plugin.js:137

      const prependedGroup = group ? `${pluginName}-${group}` : group;
      return {
        id,
        weight,
        group: prependedGroup,
      };
    });
  }

  /**
   * Extract and validate the category added by the plugin.
   * @param {unknown} categoryJson
   * @param {string} pluginName
   * @return {LH.Config.CategoryJson}
   */
  static _parseCategory(categoryJson, pluginName) {
    if (!isObjectOfUnknownProperties(categoryJson)) {
      throw new Error(`${pluginName} has no valid category.`);
    }

    const {
      title,
      description,
      manualDescription,
      auditRefs: auditRefsJson,
      supportedModes,
      ...invalidRest
    } = categoryJson;

    assertNoExcessProperties(invalidRest, pluginName, 'category');

    if (!i18n.isStringOrIcuMessage(title)) {
      throw new Error(`${pluginName} has an invalid category tile.`);
    }
    if (!i18n.isStringOrIcuMessage(description) && description !== undefined) {
      throw new Error(`${pluginName} has an invalid category description.`);

View on GitHub (pinned to 9515cd4e58)

Solutions

1. Add a `category` object to the plugin with at least a `title` property.
2. Ensure the category value is a plain object, not a string or array.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown when a plugin does not define a valid category.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleChrome/lighthouse@9515cd4e58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a438efe4848360ee. Report an issue: GitHub.