Hmbown/CodeWhale · error · RegistryError

invalid_id

invalid_id

Error message

computer id must match " + ID_RE

What it means

RegistryError "invalid_id": register() rejects any computer id that is missing or does not match ID_RE. The registry uses ids as object keys in the saved computers map and exposes them to tool calls, so only a constrained character set is accepted. This validation runs before any transport-specific checks, so it fires first when both id and transport are bad.

Solutions

1. Choose an id that matches ID_RE — use letters, digits, and simple separators like dashes (e.g. "desk-pc", "lab-ssh01").
2. Check the exact pattern by inspecting ID_RE at the top of registry.mjs and conform to it.
3. Sanitize or slugify any externally supplied id before passing it to register().
4. Ensure id is a non-empty string (not undefined/null/number) in the object passed to register().

Example fix

// before
register({ id: inputHostname, transport: "ssh", host: inputHostname });
// after
const id = inputHostname.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]/g, "-");
register({ id, transport: "ssh", host: inputHostname });

// const ID_RE = <pattern from registry.mjs>;
function validId(id) { return typeof id === "string" && id.length > 0 && ID_RE.test(id); }
if (!validId(id)) throw new Error(`id "${id}" must match ${ID_RE}`);

const isRegistryId = (v) => typeof v === "string" && v.length > 0 && /^[A-Za-z0-9._-]+$/.test(v);

try {
  register({ id, transport, ...rest });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof RegistryError && e.code === "invalid_id") {
    throw new Error(`Bad computer id "${id}": use letters/digits/dots/dashes`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling register({ id: undefined, ... }), register({ id: "", ... }), or register({ id: "my computer!", ... }) with characters outside ID_RE (e.g. spaces, slashes, uppercase-sensitive patterns, colons).

Common situations: Copy-pasting a hostname or device serial containing colons/spaces into the id field; building an id from user input without sanitizing; forgetting to pass id entirely when spreading config into register().

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid id" errors: invalid identifier format — why libraries reject IDs before lookup, and how to fix them — this error's family across 37 libraries.

Related errors

• invalid_container
• invalid_host
• invalid_transport
• reserved_id
• Choose an appearance file smaller than 4 KiB.

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@73e0f67d83 (2026-09-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/de70ddd42000cf61. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tui/plugins/computer-use/src/registry.mjs:79

  const c = reg.computers[id];
  if (!c) throw new RegistryError("unknown_computer", `no computer registered with id "${id}". Use computer_list.`);
  return c;
}

export function active() { return get(list().active); }

/** Switch the active computer. Returns the computer entry. */
export function switchTo(id) {
  const c = get(id); // throws unknown_computer
  const reg = load();
  reg.active = c.id;
  save(reg);
  return c;
}

/** Register or update a computer. Returns the entry. */
export function register({ id, transport, label, ...rest }) {
  if (!id || !ID_RE.test(id)) throw new RegistryError("invalid_id", "computer id must match " + ID_RE);
  if (!["local", "ssh", "hdc", "docker"].includes(transport)) {
    throw new RegistryError("invalid_transport", "transport must be one of: local, ssh, hdc, docker");
  }
  if (id === "local" && transport !== "local") {
    throw new RegistryError("reserved_id", '"local" is reserved for this machine');
  }
  if (transport === "ssh") {
    if (!rest.host || !/^[A-Za-z0-9._-]+$/.test(rest.host)) {
      throw new RegistryError("invalid_host", "ssh computers need a valid host (letters, digits, dot, dash, underscore)");
    }
    if (rest.port != null && (!Number.isInteger(rest.port) || rest.port < 1 || rest.port > 65535)) {
      throw new RegistryError("invalid_port", "port must be an integer in 1..65535");
    }
    if (rest.user != null && !/^[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+$/.test(rest.user)) {
      throw new RegistryError("invalid_user", "user must be a plain name");
    }
  }
  if (transport === "hdc") {

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