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

Validate with a JSON linter or `echo "$JSON" | jq .` before passing

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

Error message

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

What it means

The state command's JSON input (from --input or stdin) failed JSON.parse. The message includes the parser's position info and, for --input on Windows-like shells where quotes get stripped, an extra hint may be appended.

Source

Thrown at src/cli/state.ts:59

function looksLikeQuoteStrippedJson(raw: string): boolean {
  const trimmed = raw.trim();
  return trimmed.startsWith('{') && trimmed.endsWith('}') && !trimmed.includes('"');
}

function parseStateInputJson(
  raw: string,
  source: '--input' | '--input-file',
): Record<string, unknown> {
  const json = source === '--input-file' && raw.startsWith('\uFEFF') ? raw.slice(1) : raw;
  let parsed: unknown;
  try {
    parsed = JSON.parse(json);
  } catch (error) {
    let message = `${source} must be valid JSON: ${(error as Error).message}`;
    if (source === '--input' && looksLikeQuoteStrippedJson(raw)) {
      message += WINDOWS_QUOTE_HINT;
    }
    throw new Error(message);
  }
  if (!parsed || typeof parsed !== 'object' || Array.isArray(parsed)) {
    throw new Error(`${source} must decode to a JSON object`);
  }
  return { ...(parsed as Record<string, unknown>) };
}

export async function stateCommand(
  args: string[],
  deps: StateCommandDependencies = {},
): Promise<void> {
  const stdout = deps.stdout ?? ((line: string) => console.log(line));
  const stderr = deps.stderr ?? ((line: string) => console.error(line));
  const execute = deps.execute ?? executeStateOperation;

  const subcommand = args[0];
  if (!subcommand || isHelpArg(subcommand)) {
    stdout(STATE_HELP);

View on GitHub (pinned to 3ad79a8a6f)

Solutions

Validate with a JSON linter or `echo "$JSON" | jq .` before passing
On Windows, use the --input-file option with a properly quoted JSON file instead of inline --input
Use jq -c to construct compact, correctly quoted JSON

Example fix

# before (cmd.exe strips quotes)
state set --input "{\"foo\": 1}"
# after
echo '{"foo": 1}' > state.json
state set --input-file state.json

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function assertJson(text: string, source: string) {
  try { JSON.parse(text); } catch (e) {
    throw new Error(`${source} is not valid JSON: ${(e as Error).message}`);
  }
}
assertJson(json, 'payload');

Try / catch

try { JSON.parse(input); }
catch (e) { /* show e.message position, fix quotes/commas */ }

Prevention

Build JSON with jq -c rather than string concatenation
On Windows, prefer --input-file over inline --input

When it happens

Trigger: `state set --input '{key: value}'` (unquoted keys), or `--input "{"a":1}"` on a shell that strips the inner quotes, yielding invalid JSON like {a:1}.

Common situations: Windows cmd/PowerShell mangling double quotes; single-quoted heredocs with trailing commas; truncation by terminal paste limits.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Yeachan-Heo/oh-my-codex@3ad79a8a6f (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8799b8e67347708b. Report an issue: GitHub.