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

Missing --rationale.

Error message

Missing --rationale.

What it means

Every structured steering proposal must carry non-empty rationale (the reasoning for the mutation), checked right after evidence. It comes from --rationale or the rationale key of --after-json/--directive-json; missing or whitespace-only values abort the steer before steerUltragoal is called.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/ultragoal.ts:462

        printStatus(result.plan);
      }
      return;
    }

    if (command === 'steer') {
      const proposalText = readValue(rest, '--proposal');
      const source = readValue(rest, '--source');
      if (proposalText) {
        const parsed = assertPlainObject(await readJsonInput(proposalText, '--proposal'), '--proposal');
        const proposal = normalizeSteeringProposal({ ...parsed, source: source ?? parsed.source }, proposalText);
        const result = await steerUltragoal(cwd, proposal, { directiveText: proposalText });
        printSteerResult(proposal, result, json);
        if (!result.accepted) process.exitCode = 1;
        return;
      }
      const proposal = await parseSteeringProposal(rest);
      if (!proposal.evidence?.trim?.()) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --evidence.');
      if (!proposal.rationale?.trim?.()) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --rationale.');
      proposal.source = parseSteeringSource(source, proposal.source);
      const result = await steerUltragoal(cwd, proposal, { directiveText: buildSteerDirectiveText(rest) });
      printSteerResult(proposal, result, json);
      if (!result.accepted) process.exitCode = 1;
      return;
    }

    if (command === 'record-review-blockers') {
      const goalId = readValue(rest, '--goal-id');
      const title = readValue(rest, '--title');
      const objective = readValue(rest, '--objective');
      const evidence = readValue(rest, '--evidence');
      if (!goalId) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --goal-id.');
      if (!title?.trim()) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --title.');
      if (!objective?.trim()) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --objective.');
      if (!evidence?.trim()) throw new UltragoalError('Missing --evidence.');
      const codexGoal = await parseCodexGoalJson(readValue(rest, '--codex-goal-json'));
      const result = await recordFinalReviewBlockers(cwd, { goalId, title, objective, evidence, codexGoal });

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ad79a8a6f)

Solutions

1. Add `--rationale "..."` explaining the decision logic
2. In JSON proposals include a non-empty "rationale" string field

Example fix

# before
omx ultragoal steer --kind add_goal --evidence 'ci green' --title t --objective o
# Error: Missing --rationale.

# after
omx ultragoal steer --kind add_goal --evidence 'ci green' --rationale 'follow-up goal needed for docs' --title t --objective o

if (!rationale?.trim()) { console.error('steer requires non-empty --rationale'); process.exit(2); }

function hasRationale(p: { rationale?: string }): boolean {
  return typeof p.rationale === 'string' && p.rationale.trim().length > 0;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Steering with --kind and --evidence but no --rationale, or a proposal JSON whose rationale key is absent/blank.

Common situations: Believing evidence alone justifies the change; template proposals that only fill kind/evidence; rationale passed under a different key name (e.g. 'reason').

Related errors

• Missing --kind for structured ultragoal steer.
• Missing --evidence.
• omx ultragoal steer rejects broad natural-language mutation
• Missing brief text. Pass --brief, --brief-file, --from-stdin
• Missing --title.

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/45db3b5c0b09aa63. Report an issue: GitHub.