What causes "--input must be valid JSON: ${(error as Error).message}" in Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex?

Quote the whole document in single quotes and fix the reported syntax position

Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex · error · Error

--input must be valid JSON

Error message

--input must be valid JSON: ${(error as Error).message}

What it means

Thrown when --input is present but its value fails JSON.parse; the parser's message is included. The question specification must deserialize before normalizeQuestionInput can process it.

Solutions

Quote the whole document in single quotes and fix the reported syntax position
Pipe the spec through `jq .` (or `jq -c .`) to validate and compact it first
Generate the JSON with a tool instead of hand-writing it when it contains dynamic values

Example fix

# before
omx question --input "{question: 'Deploy?'}"
# after
omx question --input '{"question":"Deploy?"}'

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const inputJson = JSON.stringify(questionSpec); // guaranteed parseable
await questionCommand(['--input', inputJson]);

Try / catch

try {
  await runQuestion(input);
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof Error && error.message.includes('--input must be valid JSON')) {
    throw new Error(`question spec was not serialized as JSON: ${input}`);
  }
  throw error;
}

Prevention

Always serialize with JSON.stringify rather than hand-writing JSON in templates
Lint dynamic specs through jq or JSON.parse before invoking
Avoid shell interpolation of raw strings into JSON

When it happens

Trigger: `omx question --input <value>` where <value> contains invalid JSON — unquoted keys, trailing commas, or broken shell quoting that truncates the document.

Common situations: Writing JSON directly in a shell without outer single quotes, template variables that inject unescaped quotes, or hand-editing a long spec and leaving a trailing comma.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/775825bcea2f1ae9. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/cli/question.ts:298

        question_id: parsed.answerQuestionId,
        session_id: parsed.sessionId,
        error: {
          code,
          message: extractErrorMessage(error),
        },
      }, parsed.json);
      process.exitCode = 1;
    }
    return;
  }

  if (!parsed.input) throw new Error('omx question requires --input in normal mode');

  let rawInput: unknown;
  try {
    rawInput = JSON.parse(parsed.input);
  } catch (error) {
    throw new Error(`--input must be valid JSON: ${(error as Error).message}`);
  }

  const input = normalizeQuestionInput(rawInput);
  const cwd = process.cwd();
  const policy = await evaluateQuestionPolicy({
    cwd,
    explicitSessionId: input.session_id,
    questionSource: input.source,
  });
  if (!policy.allowed) {
    printJson({
      ok: false,
      error: {
        code: policy.code,
        message: policy.message,
      },
    }, parsed.json);
    process.exitCode = 1;

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