affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Unknown argument: ${a}

Error message

Unknown argument: ${a}

What it means

Thrown by proximity-tick's parseArgs else-branch when a token matched none of --help/-h, --dry-run, --json, --watch, --db, --state-db. The loop is a flat if/else chain with explicit value consumption (i += 1) for the value flags, so any unrecognized token — including a misspelled flag or a value whose flag was typo'd — lands here.

Source

Thrown at scripts/proximity-tick.js:41

  const parsed = { watchSec: 0, dryRun: false, json: false, help: false, dbPath: null, stateDbPath: null };
  for (let i = 0; i < args.length; i += 1) {
    const a = args[i];
    if (a === '--help' || a === '-h') parsed.help = true;
    else if (a === '--dry-run') parsed.dryRun = true;
    else if (a === '--json') parsed.json = true;
    else if (a === '--watch') {
      const v = Number.parseInt(args[i + 1], 10);
      if (!Number.isInteger(v) || v <= 0) throw new Error('--watch needs a positive seconds value');
      parsed.watchSec = v;
      i += 1;
    } else if (a === '--db') {
      parsed.dbPath = args[i + 1];
      i += 1;
    } else if (a === '--state-db') {
      parsed.stateDbPath = args[i + 1];
      i += 1;
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${a}`);
    }
  }
  return parsed;
}

function showHelp() {
  console.log(
    [
      'Usage: node scripts/proximity-tick.js [--watch <seconds>] [--dry-run] [--json] [--db <path>] [--state-db <path>]',
      '',
      'Scan agent proximity from the control-pane state and steer/transmit by sending',
      'internal session-to-session messages. --dry-run sends nothing; --watch loops.'
    ].join('\n')
  );
}

function report(tick, json) {
  if (json) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Run `--help` to see the five accepted flags (only --watch/--db/--state-db take values).
2. Use the exact hyphenated forms: `--dry-run`, `--state-db`.
3. Quote path arguments to --db/--state-db to avoid token splitting.

Example fix

# before
node scripts/proximity-tick.js --dryrun --watch 30
# after
node scripts/proximity-tick.js --dry-run --watch 30

const PROXIMITY_FLAGS = new Set(['--help','-h','--dry-run','--json','--watch','--db','--state-db']);
function isProximityFlag(token) {
  return PROXIMITY_FLAGS.has(token);
}

function isKnownProximityFlag(token) {
  return PROXIMITY_FLAGS.has(token);
}

try {
  parseArgs(process.argv);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.startsWith('Unknown argument')) {
    console.error(`${err.message}. Accepted: --dry-run, --json, --watch <s>, --db <path>, --state-db <path>.`);
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A typo like `--dryrun` (no hyphen) or `--state-db`; a positional arg the script does not accept; a flag from another ECC script; value flags where the previous flag name was misspelled so the value is read as a new flag.

Common situations: User copies flags from a different control-pane script; version drift where a flag was renamed; shell expansion turning a path into multiple tokens.

Related errors

• --watch needs a positive seconds value
• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• --timeout-ms must be a positive number
• Invalid format: ${parsed.format}. Use text or json.

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67a7fe1aba813f81. Report an issue: GitHub.