affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.

Error message

Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.

What it means

Thrown after the parse loop in release-approval-gate when `parsed.format` is not `text` or `json`. This gate, like preview-pack-smoke, supports only two output formats: text (default, human-readable verdict) and json (machine-parseable for CI). Set via --format or forced to json by --json.

Source

Thrown at scripts/release-approval-gate.js:162

      continue;
    }

    if (arg === '--root') {
      parsed.root = path.resolve(readArgValue(args, index, arg));
      index += 1;
      continue;
    }

    if (arg.startsWith('--root=')) {
      parsed.root = path.resolve(arg.slice('--root='.length));
      continue;
    }

    throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
  }

  if (!['text', 'json'].includes(parsed.format)) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.`);
  }

  return parsed;
}

function readText(rootDir, relativePath) {
  try {
    return fs.readFileSync(path.join(rootDir, relativePath), 'utf8');
  } catch (_error) {
    return '';
  }
}

function fileExists(rootDir, relativePath) {
  return fs.existsSync(path.join(rootDir, relativePath));
}

function safeParseJson(text) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Use `text` (default) or `json`: `--format json` or `--json`.
2. For markdown reports use platform-audit, which supports it.
3. Trim and lowercase any env-supplied format before forwarding.

Example fix

# before
node scripts/release-approval-gate.js --format markdown
# after
node scripts/release-approval-gate.js --format json

function normalizeGateFormat(raw) {
  const f = String(raw || '').trim().toLowerCase();
  if (!['text','json'].includes(f)) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${f}. Use text or json.`);
  }
  return f;
}

function isGateFormat(value) {
  return typeof value === 'string' && ['text','json'].includes(value.trim().toLowerCase());
}

try {
  parseArgs(process.argv);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.startsWith('Invalid format')) {
    console.error('release-approval-gate supports only text or json. Use --json for JSON.');
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `--format markdown`, `--format yaml`, `--format ''`, or assuming markdown support parity with platform-audit.

Common situations: User copies a --format value from platform-audit docs; env-derived format with whitespace/newline; expecting parity across all ECC gates.

Related errors

• Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.
• Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text, json, or markdow
• --write requires --json, --markdown, or --format json|markdo
• Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.
• ${flagName} requires a value

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ff43e797abc2a0a1. Report an issue: GitHub.