Hmbown/CodeWhale · error · anyhow::Error

Trigger message must not be empty

Error message

Trigger message must not be empty

What it means

create_trigger rejects a message that trims to empty. The trimmed message is stored and delivered when the trigger fires, so blank strings are refused up front, after the fire_at check.

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/automation_manager.rs:1336

            }
        }
        Ok(pending)
    }

    // ── Delayed-trigger storage methods ──────────────────────────────────

    /// Persist a new delayed trigger and return the record.
    pub fn create_trigger(&self, req: CreateDelayedTriggerRequest) -> Result<DelayedTriggerRecord> {
        let now = Utc::now();
        if req.fire_at <= now {
            bail!(
                "fire_at must be in the future (got {}, now is {})",
                req.fire_at.to_rfc3339(),
                now.to_rfc3339()
            );
        }
        if req.message.trim().is_empty() {
            bail!("Trigger message must not be empty");
        }
        let record = DelayedTriggerRecord {
            schema_version: CURRENT_TRIGGER_SCHEMA_VERSION,
            trigger_id: format!("trig_{}", Uuid::new_v4().simple()),
            fire_at: req.fire_at,
            message: req.message.trim().to_string(),
            workspace: req.workspace,
            owner_session_id: req.owner_session_id,
            status: DelayedTriggerStatus::Pending,
            created_at: now,
            fired_at: None,
            task_id: None,
            thread_id: None,
            error: None,
            parent_trigger_id: req.parent_trigger_id,
        };
        self.save_trigger(&record)?;
        Ok(record)

View on GitHub (pinned to 0c42157ee5)

Solutions

1. Provide a non-empty message describing what the trigger should do
2. Validate trim-ness before submitting
3. Default templated messages to a descriptive fallback string

Example fix

// before
let req = CreateDelayedTriggerRequest { fire_at, message: "   ".to_string(), .. };

// after
let req = CreateDelayedTriggerRequest { fire_at, message: "Run the nightly backup now".to_string(), .. };

fn trigger_message_ok(msg: &str) -> bool { !msg.trim().is_empty() }

fn is_non_blank(s: &str) -> bool { !s.trim().is_empty() }

When it happens

Trigger: CreateDelayedTriggerRequest { message: String::new(), fire_at: future } or message: " "; templated messages that render to only whitespace.

Common situations: UIs submitting unvalidated textarea content; templates with empty variables; API scripts defaulting the message to an empty string.

Related errors

• Automation name cannot be empty
• Automation prompt cannot be empty
• fire_at must be in the future (got {}, now is {})
• context_window must be greater than 0
• custom provider '{provider_id}' must set [providers.{provide

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@0c42157ee5 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/54d4bffa648b4ff3. Report an issue: GitHub.