HKUDS/Vibe-Trading · warning · EtoroAPIError

search query is required

Error message

search query is required

What it means

Raised by search_instruments when the query string, after stripping, is empty. The search API requires a non-empty token.

Source

Thrown at agent/src/trading/connectors/etoro/instruments.py:187

        query: Symbol (``BTC``, ``AAPL``), discovery text, or asset-class label
            (``crypto``, ``stocks``, ``forex``).
        config: Optional connector config.
        limit: Max results (capped at 50).
        mode: ``auto`` (ticker → exact lookup then fuzzy), ``symbol`` (exact only),
            ``discover`` (fuzzy ``search`` param only), or ``type`` (browse by
            ``instrument_type_id`` / asset-class alias).
        instrument_type_id: Optional eToro ``instrumentTypeID`` filter (e.g. ``10``
            for crypto). When set, uses ``GET /market-data/instruments`` with
            ``instrumentTypeIds``.
        include_rates: When browsing by type, attach bid/ask/last from the flat
            ``/market-data/instruments/rates`` endpoint (works on all profiles).
    """
    from src.trading.connectors.etoro.client import load_config

    cfg = config or load_config()
    token = str(query or "").strip()
    if not token:
        raise EtoroAPIError("search query is required")

    clean_limit = max(1, min(int(limit), 50))
    clean_mode = str(mode or "auto").strip().lower()
    if clean_mode not in ("auto", "symbol", "discover", "type"):
        raise EtoroAPIError("mode must be 'auto', 'symbol', 'discover', or 'type'")

    if clean_mode == "type" or instrument_type_id is not None:
        resolved_type_id = instrument_type_id
        if resolved_type_id is None:
            resolved_type_id = _instrument_type_id_from_query(token, cfg)
        if resolved_type_id is None:
            raise EtoroAPIError(
                "instrument_type_id is required for type browse "
                "(e.g. 10 for crypto) or use an asset-class query like 'crypto'"
            )
        return list_instruments_by_type(
            resolved_type_id,
            cfg,

View on GitHub (pinned to 80ffdda44c)

Solutions

1. Validate the query is non-empty before calling search_instruments
2. Default the caller's input (e.g. require at least one character in the UI)

Example fix

# before
results = search_instruments(user_query)  # user_query may be ''
# after
token = (user_query or '').strip()
if not token:
    raise ValueError('enter a search term')
results = search_instruments(token)

token = (query or '').strip()
if not token:
    # skip the call; show 'enter a search term' in UI
    return []

def is_valid_search_query(q: str | None) -> bool:
    return bool(q and q.strip())

When it happens

Trigger: Calling search_instruments(''), search_instruments(None), or with a whitespace-only query.

Common situations: UI passing an empty search box value; default parameter of '' flowing through; f-string building a query from a missing variable.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• mode must be 'auto', 'symbol', 'discover', or 'type'
• unsupported instrument_type_id {type_id}
• symbol is required
• invalid instrument id {instrument_id}
• at least one valid instrument_id is required

AI-assisted analysis of HKUDS/Vibe-Trading@80ffdda44c (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1055ca6b1372b4d0. Report an issue: GitHub.