affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Unable to load issue #${issueNumber} from ${repo}

Error message

Unable to load issue #${issueNumber} from ${repo}

What it means

Thrown by getIssue when runGhJson returns null/empty for an issue view. This happens when gh succeeds and parses to JSON null — typically because the issue was not found and gh (with --json) returned an empty/null payload, or the view returned no data. It distinguishes 'gh call worked but no issue' from 'gh call failed' (which would throw earlier in runCommand).

Source

Thrown at scripts/lib/github-coordination/gh-api.js:95

  } catch (error) {
    throw new Error(`gh ${args.join(' ')} returned invalid JSON: ${error.message}`);
  }
}

function getIssue(repo, issueNumber, options = {}) {
  const { owner, name } = normalizeRepo(repo);
  const json = runGhJson([
    'issue',
    'view',
    String(issueNumber),
    '--repo',
    `${owner}/${name}`,
    '--json',
    'number,title,body,url,state,labels,author,updatedAt,assignees',
  ], options);

  if (!json) {
    throw new Error(`Unable to load issue #${issueNumber} from ${repo}`);
  }

  return json;
}

function listIssues(repo, options = {}) {
  const { owner, name } = normalizeRepo(repo);
  const limit = Number.isFinite(options.limit) ? options.limit : 100;
  const state = options.state || 'all';
  return runGhJson([
    'issue',
    'list',
    '--repo',
    `${owner}/${name}`,
    '--state',
    state,
    '--limit',
    String(limit),

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Verify the issue exists and is visible to the token: run `gh issue view <n> --repo owner/name` manually.
2. Confirm the token has repo/read scope and the repo is correct (owner/name).
3. Guard the call: check existence via listIssues or a gh issue view --state all before relying on getIssue.
4. Treat this error as a 404 in callers — refresh references and remove stale issue numbers.

Example fix

// before
const issue = getIssue(repo, issueNumber);

// after — handle not-found gracefully
let issue;
try { issue = getIssue(repo, issueNumber); }
catch (e) {
  if (/Unable to load issue/.test(e.message)) {
    throw new Error(`Issue #${issueNumber} not found in ${repo} (deleted or inaccessible to token).`);
  }
  throw e;
}

const exists = runGhJson(['issue', 'view', String(n), '--repo', repo, '--json', 'number']);
if (!exists || !exists.number) {
  throw new Error(`Issue #${n} not found in ${repo} (deleted or token lacks access).`);
}

function issueLoaded(json) {
  return Boolean(json && (json.number || json.id));
}

try {
  getIssue(repo, issueNumber);
} catch (e) {
  if (/Unable to load issue/.test(e.message)) { refreshReferences(issueNumber); return null; }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: The issue number does not exist in the repo; the issue was deleted; the token lacks read access so gh returns empty; a draft/private issue the token cannot see.

Common situations: Typo in the issue number; issue deleted between list and view; token scope insufficient for a private repo; wrong repo/owner.

Related errors

• ${command} ${args.join(' ')} failed: ${(result.stderr || res
• Invalid repo format: "${repo}". Expected "owner/repo".
• Invalid issue number: ${value}
• ${command} ${args.join(' ')} failed: ${result.error.message}
• gh ${args.join(' ')} returned invalid JSON: ${error.message}

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2382bfb2dfe744ea. Report an issue: GitHub.