actualbudget/actual · error · Error

No update fields provided. Use --name or --offbudget.

Error message

No update fields provided. Use --name or --offbudget.

What it means

The accounts CLI `update` command requires at least one field to change. If neither --name nor --offbudget is supplied, the fields object is empty and the command throws instead of issuing a pointless API call.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/commands/accounts.ts:88

    .command('update <id>')
    .description('Update an account')
    .option('--name <name>', 'New account name')
    .option('--offbudget <bool>', 'Set off-budget status')
    .action(async (id: string, cmdOpts) => {
      const opts = program.opts();
      const fields: Record<string, unknown> = {};
      if (cmdOpts.name !== undefined) {
        const trimmed = cmdOpts.name.trim();
        if (trimmed === '') {
          throw new Error('Invalid --name: must be a non-empty string.');
        }
        fields.name = trimmed;
      }
      if (cmdOpts.offbudget !== undefined) {
        fields.offbudget = parseBoolFlag(cmdOpts.offbudget, '--offbudget');
      }
      if (Object.keys(fields).length === 0) {
        throw new Error(
          'No update fields provided. Use --name or --offbudget.',
        );
      }
      await withConnection(
        opts,
        async () => {
          await api.updateAccount(id, fields);
          printOutput({ success: true, id }, opts.format);
        },
        { mutates: true },
      );
    });

  accounts
    .command('close <id>')
    .description('Close an account')
    .option(
      '--transfer-account <id>',

View on GitHub (pinned to d4334cb6e6)

Solutions

1. Provide at least one update flag: `accounts update <id> --name "Savings"` or `--offbudget true`.
2. Verify flag spelling matches the command's --name / --offbudget options.
3. If no change is needed, don't call update — or use `accounts list`/`get` to inspect.

Example fix

// before
actual accounts update acct_123
// after
actual accounts update acct_123 --name "Emergency Fund" --offbudget false

const flags: string[] = [];
if (name) flags.push('--name', name);
if (typeof offbudget === 'boolean') flags.push('--offbudget', String(offbudget));
if (flags.length === 0) throw new Error('Nothing to update: pass --name and/or --offbudget');

null

try {
  await runCli(['accounts', 'update', id, ...flags]);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('No update fields provided')) {
    console.error('Skipped: no fields to update for account', id);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `actual-cli accounts update <id>` with no flags, or with flags whose values were undefined due to shell expansion mistakes (e.g. --name "$EMPTY_VAR" not passed because the var was unset and quoted args dropped).

Common situations: Automated scripts that conditionally build flag arrays but end up passing none; typos like --naem or --off-budget that commander treats as unknown (or are silently dropped in loose setups); calling update when the actual intent was `accounts get`.

Related errors

• Invalid --name: must be a non-empty string.
• Invalid cutoff date: expected a valid date (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD)
• No update fields provided. Use --name or --hidden.
• No update fields provided. Use --name or --hidden.
• No fields to update. Use --name to specify a new name.

AI-assisted analysis of actualbudget/actual@d4334cb6e6 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3dff2b680fec31ec. Report an issue: GitHub.