NousResearch/hermes-agent · error

latitude and longitude must be numbers

Error message

latitude and longitude must be numbers

What it means

Thrown by buildLocationPayload in the WhatsApp bridge helpers when latitude/longitude cannot be coerced to finite numbers (Number() yields NaN, undefined, or Infinity). It guards before building the Baileys location message, which requires numeric degreesLatitude/degreesLongitude.

Source

Thrown at scripts/whatsapp-bridge/bridge_helpers.js:177

export function buildTextSendPayload(text, { replyTo, messageStore } = {}) {
  const content = { text };
  const options = {};
  const quoted = messageStore?.get(replyTo);
  if (quoted?.key && quoted?.message) {
    // Baileys expects quoted messages as sendMessage options, not inside the
    // message content payload. Keeping this split avoids silently sending a
    // literal/ignored `quoted` field instead of a native WhatsApp reply.
    options.quoted = quoted;
  }
  return { content, options };
}

export function buildLocationPayload({ latitude, longitude, name, address } = {}) {
  const lat = Number(latitude);
  const lon = Number(longitude);
  if (!Number.isFinite(lat) || !Number.isFinite(lon)) {
    throw new Error('latitude and longitude must be numbers');
  }
  if (lat < -90 || lat > 90 || lon < -180 || lon > 180) {
    throw new Error('latitude/longitude out of range');
  }

  const location = {
    degreesLatitude: lat,
    degreesLongitude: lon,
  };
  if (name) location.name = String(name);
  if (address) location.address = String(address);
  return { location };
}

function textFromQuotedMessage(quotedMessage) {
  if (!quotedMessage) return '';
  if (quotedMessage.conversation) return quotedMessage.conversation;
  if (quotedMessage.extendedTextMessage?.text) return quotedMessage.extendedTextMessage.text;

View on GitHub (pinned to c896c09c42)

Solutions

1. Supply numeric latitude and longitude in the location payload (validate with Number.isFinite first).
2. If only a place name is known, geocode it to coordinates before calling the bridge.
3. In tool schemas, mark latitude/longitude as required numeric properties so the model cannot omit them.

Example fix

// before
buildLocationPayload({ name: 'Office' })

// after
buildLocationPayload({ latitude: 37.7749, longitude: -122.4194, name: 'Office' })

function isValidLatLng(lat: unknown, lon: unknown): boolean {
  const a = Number(lat), b = Number(lon)
  return Number.isFinite(a) && Number.isFinite(b)
}

function hasCoordinates(p: { latitude?: unknown; longitude?: unknown }): p is { latitude: number; longitude: number } {
  return Number.isFinite(Number(p.latitude)) && Number.isFinite(Number(p.longitude))
}

try {
  buildLocationPayload(args)
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message === 'latitude and longitude must be numbers')
    reply('Send me numeric latitude and longitude.')
  else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Sending a WhatsApp location message via the bridge with latitude/longitude missing, non-numeric strings ('abc'), null, or empty values in the send-location payload.

Common situations: Agent/tool call omitting lat/lon fields, geocoding step failing upstream and passing undefined through, or sending place name only without coordinates.

Related errors

• latitude/longitude out of range
• question is required
• at least two poll options are required
• Preview mode — launching is disabled.
• no install root

AI-assisted analysis of NousResearch/hermes-agent@c896c09c42 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ec7a8bd0e9a79fa3. Report an issue: GitHub.