affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Choose only one output format: --json or --markdown

Error message

Choose only one output format: --json or --markdown

What it means

Thrown by scripts/status.js after argument parsing when both --json and --markdown are set. The status command can only emit one machine-readable format per run because each format writes directly to stdout (and optionally --write), so requesting both is ambiguous and rejected. This is a mutual-exclusion guard enforced after the parse loop completes.

Source

Thrown at scripts/status.js:59

    } else if (arg === '--markdown') {
      parsed.markdown = true;
    } else if (arg === '--exit-code') {
      parsed.exitCode = true;
    } else if (arg === '--write') {
      parsed.writePath = args[index + 1] || null;
      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--limit') {
      parsed.limit = args[index + 1] || null;
      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--help' || arg === '-h') {
      parsed.help = true;
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
    }
  }

  if (parsed.json && parsed.markdown) {
    throw new Error('Choose only one output format: --json or --markdown');
  }

  if (args.includes('--db') && !parsed.dbPath) {
    throw new Error('Missing value for --db');
  }

  if (args.includes('--write') && !parsed.writePath) {
    throw new Error('Missing value for --write');
  }

  if (args.includes('--limit') && !parsed.limit) {
    throw new Error('Missing value for --limit');
  }

  return parsed;
}

function printActiveSessions(section) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

Remove one of the two format flags so only --json or only --markdown remains.
If you need both formats, run the command twice — once per format — writing to separate files via --write.
Audit the wrapper script or CI step that assembles the flags to ensure the format choice is mutually exclusive (use if/else, not independent appends).

Example fix

// before
node scripts/status.js --json --markdown

// after
node scripts/status.js --json

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Ensure --json and --markdown are never both set
function pickFormat(argv, prefer = 'json') {
  const out = argv.filter(f => f !== '--json' && f !== '--markdown');
  out.push(prefer === 'markdown' ? '--markdown' : '--json');
  return out;
}
// pickFormat(['--json', '--markdown', '--limit', '5'], 'json'); // ['--limit','5','--json']

Prevention

Choose the format via a single if/else, never two independent appends.
In CI, derive the format from one variable and inject exactly one flag.
If you need both formats, run two separate processes writing to distinct --write paths.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing both format flags in one invocation: `node scripts/status.js --json --markdown`. Common when a wrapper script accumulates flags from multiple environment conditions without clearing the prior choice, or when a user toggles both while experimenting.

Common situations: A CI pipeline that picks --json for machines but accidentally also sets --markdown from a prior step; shell scripts that build a flag string conditionally and both conditions evaluate true; copy-pasting a command that already had one format flag and appending the other.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b5aeca790814658a. Report an issue: GitHub.