affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Invalid format: . Use text or json.

Error message

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

What it means

parseArgs in scripts/harness-audit.js validates that the --format value is one of exactly two supported output formats: 'text' or 'json'. Any other value (case-sensitive) fails so downstream rendering only has to handle known formats.

Solutions

1. Use exactly `--format=text` or `--format=json` (lowercase)
2. If a variable supplies the value, echo it first to confirm it is non-empty and lowercase
3. Omit --format entirely to use the default
4. Normalize with toLowerCase() in the calling script

Example fix

// before
node scripts/harness-audit.js --format=JSON
// after
node scripts/harness-audit.js --format=json

const format = (process.env.AUDIT_FORMAT || 'text').toLowerCase();
if (!['text', 'json'].includes(format)) throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${format}`);

const isAuditFormat = (v) => v === 'text' || v === 'json';

try {
  parseArgs(args);
} catch (err) {
  if (String(err.message).startsWith('Invalid format:')) {
    console.error(`${err.message} (accepted: text, json)`);
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `node scripts/harness-audit.js --format=markdown`, `--format=JSON` (uppercase rejected), or `--format=` (empty value after the equals sign).

Common situations: Case mismatch (JSON vs json), passing a format supported by another tool, scripting with a variable that is empty or unset.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• --host-provider must be anthropic, openai, or unknown
• Invalid --action value
• Invalid format: . Use text, json, or markdown.
• Invalid format: . Use text, json, or markdown.
• Invalid format: . Use text, json, or markdown.

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@8321021c54 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d847d6d5a0fe6f2. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at scripts/harness-audit.js:128

    if (arg.startsWith('--scope=')) {
      parsed.scope = normalizeScope(arg.split('=')[1]);
      continue;
    }

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

    if (arg.startsWith('-')) {
      throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
    }

    parsed.scope = normalizeScope(arg);
  }

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

  return parsed;
}

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

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

function countFiles(rootDir, relativeDir, extension) {
  const dirPath = path.join(rootDir, relativeDir);
  if (!fs.existsSync(dirPath)) {
    return 0;
  }

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