HKUDS/DeepTutor · error · OpValidationError

edit: malformed target_id {op.target_id!r}

Error message

edit: malformed target_id {op.target_id!r}

What it means

OpValidationError raised in _validate when an EditOp's target_id fails is_entry_id. Edits locate an existing entry by its entry id; target_id must be a well-formed entry id (the format produced when entries are created), otherwise the edit cannot be resolved and is rejected before any document mutation.

Source

Thrown at deeptutor/services/memory/ops.py:87

    edits: set[str] = set()
    deletes: set[str] = set()

    for op in ops:
        if isinstance(op, AddOp):
            if not op.text or len(op.text) > _MAX_TEXT_LEN:
                raise OpValidationError(
                    f"add: text length must be 1..{_MAX_TEXT_LEN} (got {len(op.text)})"
                )
            if not op.section or len(op.section) > _MAX_SECTION_LEN:
                raise OpValidationError(f"add: invalid section {op.section!r}")
            if not op.refs:
                raise OpValidationError("add: refs must be non-empty")
            for ref in op.refs:
                if not is_valid_ref(ref):
                    raise OpValidationError(f"add: malformed ref {ref!r}")
        elif isinstance(op, EditOp):
            if not is_entry_id(op.target_id):
                raise OpValidationError(f"edit: malformed target_id {op.target_id!r}")
            if doc.find(op.target_id) is None:
                raise OpValidationError(f"edit: target_id {op.target_id} not found")
            if not op.new_text or len(op.new_text) > _MAX_TEXT_LEN:
                raise OpValidationError(
                    f"edit: text length must be 1..{_MAX_TEXT_LEN} (got {len(op.new_text)})"
                )
            if not op.new_refs:
                raise OpValidationError("edit: refs must be non-empty")
            for ref in op.new_refs:
                if not is_valid_ref(ref):
                    raise OpValidationError(f"edit: malformed ref {ref!r}")
            if op.target_id in deletes:
                raise OpValidationError(
                    f"batch conflict: edit and delete on same id {op.target_id}"
                )
            edits.add(op.target_id)
        elif isinstance(op, DeleteOp):
            if not is_entry_id(op.target_id):

View on GitHub (pinned to 3e82f13042)

Solutions

1. Take target_id from doc entries themselves (e.g. via doc.entries / find results) rather than accepting it from free-form input
2. Run is_entry_id(target_id) as a precondition check and reject early with a clear message to the caller/LLM
3. Trim whitespace and re-fetch the entry list if ids may have been copy-pasted

Example fix

# before
op = EditOp(target_id=user_supplied_id, new_text=new_note, new_refs=[ref])

# after
from deeptutor.services.memory.ops import is_entry_id
if not is_entry_id(user_supplied_id):
    raise ValueError("please pick an entry id from the list")
op = EditOp(target_id=user_supplied_id, new_text=new_note, new_refs=[ref])

from deeptutor.services.memory.ops import is_entry_id
if not is_entry_id(target_id):
    raise ValueError("target_id must be an entry id from doc.entries")

def is_editable_target(target_id: str) -> bool:
    return is_entry_id(target_id)

try:
    ops.apply(doc, [op])
except OpValidationError as e:
    if "malformed target_id" in str(e):
        # re-prompt the LLM with the valid entry id list
        raise RetryWithEntryList(e)
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: EditOp(target_id='some string', new_text=..., new_refs=[...]) where target_id isn't a valid entry id — e.g. passing an entry's text, a section name, a ref, or a truncated/copied id with whitespace.

Common situations: LLM edit tool-calls hallucinating or paraphrasing the id; ids round-tripped through JSON/logs and mangled; UI passing the display index instead of the entry id.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

• add: text length must be 1..{_MAX_TEXT_LEN} (got {len(op.tex
• add: invalid section {op.section!r}
• add: refs must be non-empty
• add: malformed ref {ref!r}
• edit: target_id {op.target_id} not found

AI-assisted analysis of HKUDS/DeepTutor@3e82f13042 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a24f62df84f7bee4. Report an issue: GitHub.