HKUDS/Vibe-Trading · error · ValueError

'source_type' must be 'prompt' or 'playbook'

Error message

'source_type' must be 'prompt' or 'playbook'

What it means

Raised by Job from_dict (agent/src/scheduled_research/models.py:480) when 'source_type' is not exactly 'prompt' or 'playbook'. This distinguishes jobs created from a raw prompt string from those rendered from a playbook template; the default is 'prompt' when absent.

Source

Thrown at agent/src/scheduled_research/models.py:480

        # non-string values all normalize to None.
        raw_tz = data.get("timezone")
        tz = raw_tz if isinstance(raw_tz, str) and raw_tz.strip() else None
        if raw_tz is not None and tz is None:
            logger.warning(
                "scheduled research job %s has an unusable timezone %r; "
                "evaluating its schedule in UTC",
                job_id,
                raw_tz,
            )
        status = JobStatus(data["status"])
        title = data.get("title", "")
        source_type = data.get("source_type", "prompt")
        playbook_slug = data.get("playbook_slug")
        end_at = data.get("end_at")
        if not isinstance(title, str):
            raise TypeError("'title' must be a string")
        if source_type not in {"prompt", "playbook"}:
            raise ValueError("'source_type' must be 'prompt' or 'playbook'")
        if playbook_slug is not None and not isinstance(playbook_slug, str):
            raise TypeError("'playbook_slug' must be a string or null")
        if end_at is not None and (isinstance(end_at, bool) or not isinstance(end_at, int)):
            raise TypeError("'end_at' must be an integer (epoch ms) or null")
        raw_config = data.get("config")
        config: Dict[str, Any] = raw_config if isinstance(raw_config, dict) else {}
        delivery_channel = data.get("delivery_channel")
        delivery_target = data.get("delivery_target")
        delivery_target_ref = data.get("delivery_target_ref")
        delivery_target_label = data.get("delivery_target_label")
        for name, value in (
            ("delivery_channel", delivery_channel),
            ("delivery_target", delivery_target),
            ("delivery_target_ref", delivery_target_ref),
            ("delivery_target_label", delivery_target_label),
        ):
            if value is not None and not isinstance(value, str):
                raise TypeError(f"'{name}' must be a string or null")

View on GitHub (pinned to 80ffdda44c)

Solutions

1. Use exact literals 'prompt' or 'playbook'
2. Default/omit the key when unsure — absent means 'prompt'
3. Normalize case at your write boundary: source_type.lower()

Example fix

// before
record["source_type"] = "Playbook"

// after
record["source_type"] = "playbook"

SOURCE_TYPES = {"prompt", "playbook"}

def source_type_ok(v):
    return v in SOURCE_TYPES  # note: absent defaults to 'prompt'

SOURCE_TYPES = {"prompt", "playbook"}

def safe_source_type(v):
    if isinstance(v, str) and v.lower() in SOURCE_TYPES:
        return v.lower()
    return "prompt"

try:
    job = Job.from_dict(record)
except ValueError as exc:
    if "source_type" in str(exc):
        record = dict(record); record["source_type"] = "prompt"
        job = Job.from_dict(record)
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: {"source_type": "Playbook"} (case), {"source_type": "template"}, or {"source_type": ""}. Only the two exact literals pass.

Common situations: Adding a new source kind (e.g. 'workflow') without updating models; case drift between producer and consumer; empty string from a form instead of omitting the key.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• unknown delivery status {raw_status!r}
• 'failure_kind' must be 'dispatch', 'schedule', or null
• source.kind must be 'prompt' or 'playbook'
• delivery.mode must be 'in_app', 'origin', or 'configured'
• invalid risk_tier: {req.risk_tier}

AI-assisted analysis of HKUDS/Vibe-Trading@80ffdda44c (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5ca57af7253fbce2. Report an issue: GitHub.