JuliusBrussee/caveman · error

${label}:${lineNo}: row must start with an inline "provider"

Error message

${label}:${lineNo}: row must start with an inline "provider" value

What it means

Thrown by the catalog parser when a top-level "- ..." row's first key has no inline value — specifically when the row does not start with "provider: <value>". Every row must open with an inline provider value because downstream generation keys rows by provider name; a valueless opening key ("- provider:" with nothing after the colon) leaves the row unidentifiable.

Source

Thrown at scripts/generate-agent-catalog.mjs:66

  const rows = [];
  let row = null;
  let blockKey = null;
  const lines = text.split("\n");
  for (let index = 0; index < lines.length; index++) {
    const line = lines[index].replace(/\s+$/, "");
    const lineNo = index + 1;
    if (line === "" || /^ *#/.test(line)) continue;
    const shape = /^( *)(- )?(.*)$/.exec(line);
    const indent = shape[1].length;
    const dash = shape[2] !== undefined;
    const rest = shape[3];
    if (indent === 0) {
      if (!dash) throw new Error(`${label}:${lineNo}: expected a top-level "- provider: ..." row`);
      row = {};
      rows.push(row);
      blockKey = null;
      const entry = splitKeyValue(rest, label, lineNo);
      if (entry.value === undefined) throw new Error(`${label}:${lineNo}: row must start with an inline "provider" value`);
      row[entry.key] = entry.value;
      continue;
    }
    if (row === null) throw new Error(`${label}:${lineNo}: indented line before any row`);
    if (indent === 2) {
      if (dash) throw new Error(`${label}:${lineNo}: unexpected sequence item at row level`);
      const entry = splitKeyValue(rest, label, lineNo);
      if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(row, entry.key)) {
        throw new Error(`${label}:${lineNo}: duplicate key "${entry.key}"`);
      }
      if (entry.value === undefined) {
        blockKey = entry.key;
        row[entry.key] = undefined;
      } else {
        blockKey = null;
        row[entry.key] = entry.value;
      }
      continue;

View on GitHub (pinned to 27d5a3981a)

Solutions

1. Put the provider value inline on the dash line: "- provider: anthropic".
2. If the row started with a different key, reorder so provider comes first with its value, then add other keys as indented "key: value" lines below.

Example fix

# before
- provider:
  anthropic

# after
- provider: anthropic

function rowsStartWithInlineProvider(text) {
  return text.split("\n").every((line) => {
    if (/^- /.test(line)) return /^- provider: \S/.test(line.replace(/\s+$/, ""));
    return true;
  });
}

try {
  parseCatalog(text);
} catch (err) {
  if (/row must start with an inline/.test(err.message)) {
    // fix the named line to "- provider: <value>" and re-run
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Writing "- provider:" with the value intended on following indented lines, or starting a row with a different key entirely ("- name: foo") — splitKeyValue returns value undefined for a key with no " value" suffix, and only provider-with-inline-value is accepted as the row opener.

Common situations: Authoring the catalog for the first time from an example that put the provider on the next line; trimming what looked like a redundant value; a row starting with a metadata key instead of provider.

Related errors

• ${label}:${lineNo}: expected a top-level "- provider: ..." r
• ${label}:${lineNo}: indented line before any row
• ${label}:${lineNo}: unexpected sequence item at row level
• ${label}:${lineNo}: duplicate key "${entry.key}"
• ${label}:${lineNo}: nested line without an open block

AI-assisted analysis of JuliusBrussee/caveman@27d5a3981a (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c82e653f804566c. Report an issue: GitHub.