What causes "unknown provider '{slug}'. Known: {}" in Hmbown/CodeWhale?

Use one of the names from the 'Known:' list in the error message

unknown provider ' '. Known

Error message

unknown provider '{slug}'. Known: {}

What it means

resolve_provider resolves the --provider flag via ProviderInfo::from_slug and, when the slug matches no known provider kind, throws listing the known provider names from codewhale_config::ProviderKind::names_hint().

Solutions

Use one of the names from the 'Known:' list in the error message
Omit --provider to choose interactively
Check codewhale_config::ProviderKind::names_hint() for the exact accepted names
Fix casing — slugs are matched exactly

Example fix

// before
codewhale remote-setup --provider z.ai-grok
// after
codewhale remote-setup --provider zai

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if let Some(slug) = &args.provider {
    if codewhale_config::ProviderKind::from_name(slug).is_none() {
        eprintln!("--provider must be one of: {}",
            codewhale_config::ProviderKind::names_hint());
        std::process::exit(2);
    }
}

Try / catch

if let Err(e) = run_remote_setup(args) {
    if e.to_string().starts_with("unknown provider") {
        eprintln!("{e}");
        std::process::exit(2);
    }
    return Err(e);
}

Prevention

Use exactly the names from names_hint() — case-sensitive
Never pass provider display names where slugs are expected
Prune removed providers from scripts after upgrades
Validate flags at script start with a dry check

When it happens

Trigger: Running remote setup with `--provider <slug>` where the slug is not a valid provider kind name (misspelling, wrong case, unknown provider).

Common situations: Typos like `--provider anthropc`, using display names instead of slugs, or scripts referencing removed providers.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Unknown argument", "Invalid value", and "must be one of": invalid CLI argument errors explained — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@73e0f67d83 (2026-09-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2b4b93a1fd3ea0b2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/remote_setup/mod.rs:188

        bail!(
            "--bridge is required in --non-interactive mode. {}",
            bridge_choices()
        );
    }
    let idx = prompt_choice(
        "Chat bridge",
        &BRIDGES
            .iter()
            .map(|b| format!("{} ({})", b.display, b.slug))
            .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
    )?;
    Ok(&BRIDGES[idx])
}

fn resolve_provider(args: &RemoteSetupArgs) -> Result<ProviderInfo> {
    if let Some(slug) = &args.provider {
        return ProviderInfo::from_slug(slug).ok_or_else(|| {
            anyhow::anyhow!(
                "unknown provider '{slug}'. Known: {}",
                codewhale_config::ProviderKind::names_hint()
            )
        });
    }
    if args.non_interactive {
        bail!(
            "--provider is required in --non-interactive mode. Known: {}",
            codewhale_config::ProviderKind::names_hint()
        );
    }
    // List providers by their canonical names from the existing registry.
    let providers: Vec<ProviderInfo> = codewhale_config::ProviderKind::all()
        .iter()
        .filter_map(|kind| ProviderInfo::from_slug(kind.as_str()))
        .collect();
    let labels: Vec<String> = providers
        .iter()

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