SonarSource/sonarqube · error · IllegalArgumentException

Missing parameter : 'comment'

Error message

Missing parameter : 'comment'

What it means

Thrown by the issue comment action when the 'comment' parameter is missing or empty. Adding a comment requires actual text; SonarQube validates this eagerly and raises IllegalArgumentException (HTTP 400).

Source

Thrown at server/sonar-webserver-webapi/src/main/java/org/sonar/server/issue/CommentAction.java:62

    comment(properties);
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  public boolean execute(Map<String, Object> properties, Context context) {
    issueUpdater.addComment(context.issue(), comment(properties), context.issueChangeContext());
    return true;
  }

  @Override
  public boolean shouldRefreshMeasures() {
    return false;
  }

  private static String comment(Map<String, Object> properties) {
    String param = (String) properties.get(COMMENT_PROPERTY);
    if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(param)) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing parameter : '" + COMMENT_PROPERTY + "'");
    }
    return param;
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 184c821202)

Solutions

1. Provide a non-empty 'comment' parameter in the request
2. Validate the comment text is non-blank in the client before calling the API
3. Fix shell/env variable expansion so the comment value is not empty

Example fix

// before
curl -X POST '.../api/issues/add_comment?issue=AX1&comment='
// after
curl -X POST '.../api/issues/add_comment?issue=AX1' --data-urlencode 'comment=Please fix before release'

const comment = (message || '').trim();
if (!comment) throw new Error('comment text is required');

try { await post('/api/issues/add_comment', {issue, comment}); } catch (e) { if (e.status === 400 && e.message.includes("'comment'")) { /* supply non-empty text */ } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling POST api/issues/add_comment without the 'comment' parameter, or with comment='' ; also when a client serializes the field but sends an empty string.

Common situations: Script with an unquoted shell variable that expands to nothing; form/JSON body omitting the field; UI or bot posting comments where the message template rendered empty.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• One of the parameters 'severity' or 'impact' must be provide
• Issue with key '%s' does not exist
• Cannot sort on field :
• Component of type '%s' is not supported
• Parameters 'severity' and 'impact' cannot be used at the sam

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/93c620a63c762071. Report an issue: GitHub.