affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

--legacy-codex-sync cannot be combined with --target

Error message

--legacy-codex-sync cannot be combined with --target

What it means

The uninstall script enforces that --legacy-codex-sync (a full legacy-state sync mode) and --target (selective component removal) are mutually exclusive operation modes. Throwing here prevents an ambiguous uninstall where the script could not decide whether to sync everything or remove only selected targets.

Solutions

Remove either --legacy-codex-sync or all --target flags from the command — run one mode at a time
If you want selective removal, drop --legacy-codex-sync and list only the targets
If you want a full legacy sync, drop all --target flags
Check the script's help output (it runs showHelp on bad input paths) for current flag combinations

Example fix

// before
node scripts/uninstall.js --legacy-codex-sync --target commands
// after
node scripts/uninstall.js --target commands

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const args = process.argv.slice(2);
if (args.includes('--legacy-codex-sync') && (args.includes('--target') || args.includes('--targets'))) {
  throw new Error('--legacy-codex-sync cannot be combined with --target');
}

Type guard

function isExclusiveCombo(options) {
  return typeof options.legacyCodexSync === 'boolean' &&
    Array.isArray(options.targets) &&
    options.targets.length > 0 &&
    options.legacyCodexSync === true;
}

Try / catch

try {
  await main(process.argv.slice(2));
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.includes('cannot be combined')) {
    console.error('Pick either --legacy-codex-sync OR --target flags, not both.');
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Run one uninstall mode per invocation; chain separate commands if both are needed
Keep flag recipes in scripts updated when migrating away from legacy workflows
Add a shell alias per mode instead of accumulating flags
Check --help before combining unfamiliar flags

When it happens

Trigger: Running `node scripts/uninstall.js --legacy-codex-sync --target <name>` (or any --targets value) so that options.legacyCodexSync is truthy while options.targets.length > 0 when main() validates the parsed options.

Common situations: Users upgrading from older install workflows combine a remembered --legacy-codex-sync flag with newer --target flags copied from docs or shell history; shell aliases or CI scripts accumulating flags from different eras of the tool.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@8321021c54 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b24bea9f6a78deb. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at scripts/uninstall.js:150

  }
  return options.dryRun || dryRunEnv === '1';
}

function includesCodexTarget(targets) {
  return targets.length === 0 || targets.includes('codex');
}

async function main() {
  try {
    const options = parseArgs(process.argv);
    if (options.help) {
      showHelp(0);
    }

    const dryRun = isDryRun(options);

    if (options.legacyCodexSync && options.targets.length > 0) {
      throw new Error('--legacy-codex-sync cannot be combined with --target');
    }

    let result;
    let mode = 'install-state';

    if (options.legacyCodexSync) {
      result = uninstallLegacyCodexSync({
        codexHome: codexHomePath(),
        dryRun,
      });
      mode = 'legacy-codex-sync';
    } else {
      result = uninstallInstalledStates({
        homeDir: process.env.HOME || os.homedir(),
        env: process.env,
        projectRoot: process.cwd(),
        targets: options.targets,
        dryRun,

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