abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus · error · Error

must not start with "-"

Error message

must not start with "-"

What it means

A branch name starting with '-' would be interpreted by git command lines as an option flag rather than a ref (argument injection), so validateAutoSyncBranchName rejects it as its own explicit check. The library throws at config parse time via parseAutoSyncConfig, before any git invocation.

Source

Thrown at gitnexus/src/core/auto-sync/config.ts:339

    !repoName ||
    repoName === '.' ||
    repoName === '..' ||
    repoName === 'unknown' ||
    repoName.startsWith('-') ||
    !REMOTE_REPO_NAME_PATTERN.test(repoName)
  ) {
    throw new Error(
      'repository name must use only letters, digits, ".", "_", or "-" and must not be "unknown"',
    );
  }
}

export function validateAutoSyncBranchName(branch: string): void {
  if (!branch.trim()) throw new Error('must not be empty');
  if (/[\s\0-\x1f\x7f]/.test(branch))
    throw new Error('must not contain whitespace or control characters');
  if (/[~^:?*[\\]/.test(branch)) throw new Error('contains characters not allowed in a git ref');
  if (branch.startsWith('-')) throw new Error('must not start with "-"');
  if (branch.startsWith('/')) throw new Error('must not start with "/"');
  if (branch.includes('..')) throw new Error('must not contain ".."');
  if (branch.includes('`')) throw new Error('must not contain backticks');
  if (branch.endsWith('/') || branch.endsWith('.')) throw new Error('must not end with "/" or "."');
  if (branch.includes('//')) throw new Error('must not contain consecutive slashes');
  if (branch.includes('@{')) throw new Error('must not contain "@{"');
  if (
    branch
      .split('/')
      .some(
        (component) =>
          component.startsWith('.') || component.endsWith('.') || component.endsWith('.lock'),
      )
  )
    throw new Error('must not contain hidden, trailing-dot, or .lock path components');
}

export function parseDurationMs(value: unknown): number {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d1aed942f)

Solutions

1. Remove the leading '-' and use the actual branch name (e.g. -main → main).
2. Never put git flags in the branches list — flags are not supported there.
3. If you intended a dash-separated name, ensure the dash is not first: my-branch is fine, -branch is not.

Example fix

// before
branches:
  - "--all"
// after
branches:
  - main

function noLeadingDash(b) {
  return typeof b === 'string' && !b.startsWith('-');
}
const bad = (cfg.branches ?? []).filter((b) => !noLeadingDash(b));
if (bad.length) throw new Error(`branches must not start with '-': ${JSON.stringify(bad)}`);

try {
  validateAutoSyncBranchName(branch);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('must not start with "-"')) {
    log.error(`'${branch}' looks like a git flag; put the actual branch name in branches[].`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: branches: ["--force"], ["-main"], or a config where a flag like '--all' was accidentally placed in the branches list; a generated value that lost its prefix, e.g. an env var '-b main' fragment.

Common situations: Someone tried to pass git flags through the branches list; shell history fragments pasted into config; scripts emitting '- ' list markers into the value itself.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• path must include owner/repo without traversal
• must not be empty
• must not contain whitespace or control characters
• contains characters not allowed in a git ref
• must not start with "/"

AI-assisted analysis of abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus@0d1aed942f (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7bb9f0abff1c368a. Report an issue: GitHub.