affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Missing value for ${arg}

Error message

Missing value for ${arg}

What it means

In check-plugin-cache.js parseArgs(), after matching a known flag, the parser reads argv[index + 1] as its value. If that value is undefined (flag is last) or starts with '--' (looks like another flag), it throws. This prevents the parser from silently consuming a flag name as a value for the preceding flag.

Source

Thrown at scripts/codex/check-plugin-cache.js:77

    '--version': 'version',
  };
  let parsed = {};

  for (let index = 0; index < argv.length; index += 1) {
    const arg = argv[index];
    if (arg === '--help' || arg === '-h') {
      parsed = { ...parsed, help: true };
      continue;
    }

    const key = optionKeys[arg];
    if (!key) {
      throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
    }

    const value = argv[index + 1];
    if (!value || value.startsWith('--')) {
      throw new Error(`Missing value for ${arg}`);
    }
    index += 1;

    parsed = { ...parsed, [key]: value };
  }

  const options = { ...defaults, ...parsed };
  return {
    ...options,
    marketplace: validateCacheSegment('--marketplace', options.marketplace),
    plugin: validateCacheSegment('--plugin', options.plugin),
    version: validateCacheSegment('--version', options.version),
    codexHome: path.resolve(options.codexHome),
    pluginDir: options.pluginDir ? path.resolve(options.pluginDir) : null,
  };
}

function log(message) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Provide a concrete value immediately after each flag, e.g. --codex-home ~/.codex
2. If building commands dynamically, verify the value variable is truthy before appending both the flag and its value
3. Run with --help to confirm which flags expect values

Example fix

// before
node scripts/codex/check-plugin-cache.js --codex-home --plugin ecc
// after
node scripts/codex/check-plugin-cache.js --codex-home ~/.codex --plugin ecc

// Verify each value-expecting flag has a companion value
const FLAGS_REQUIRING_VALUE = new Set(['--codex-home', '--plugin-dir', '--marketplace', '--plugin', '--version']);
const argv = process.argv.slice(2);
for (let i = 0; i < argv.length; i++) {
  if (FLAGS_REQUIRING_VALUE.has(argv[i])) {
    if (!argv[i + 1] || argv[i + 1].startsWith('--')) {
      console.error(`Missing value for ${argv[i]}`);
      process.exit(1);
    }
  }
}

try {
  const options = parseArgs(process.argv.slice(2));
} catch (error) {
  if (error.message.startsWith('Missing value for')) {
    console.error(error.message);
    console.error('Each flag above requires a value as the next argument.');
    usage();
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw error;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --codex-home as the last argument with no value; passing --marketplace immediately followed by another flag like --plugin; or a copy-paste error that drops the intended value.

Common situations: Dynamic CLI construction in CI that conditionally appends a flag without its value; scripts that pass flags based on optional environment variables that are unset.

Related errors

• Invalid ${flag}: expected a single cache path segment
• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• --write requires a path
• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• ${label} must be a positive integer

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c639640a7074b8d. Report an issue: GitHub.