affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Unknown argument: ${arg}

Error message

Unknown argument: ${arg}

What it means

Thrown at the end of release-approval-gate's parseArgs loop when a token matched none of --help/-h, --format(+==), --json, --root(+==). The parser is strict because the gate's verdict must be deterministic and tied to known inputs only.

Source

Thrown at scripts/release-approval-gate.js:158

    }

    if (arg.startsWith('--format=')) {
      parsed.format = arg.slice('--format='.length).toLowerCase();
      continue;
    }

    if (arg === '--root') {
      parsed.root = path.resolve(readArgValue(args, index, arg));
      index += 1;
      continue;
    }

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

    throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
  }

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

  return parsed;
}

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

function fileExists(rootDir, relativePath) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 01e15490f0)

Solutions

1. Run `--help` to confirm the accepted flags for this installed version.
2. Pass repo via `--root=<dir>`; format via `--json` or `--format=json`.
3. Quote all arguments and verify no expansion produced extra tokens.

Example fix

# before
node scripts/release-approval-gate.js --fromat json
# after
node scripts/release-approval-gate.js --format json

const GATE_FLAGS = new Set(['--help','-h','--format','--json','--root']);
function isGateFlag(token) {
  const base = token.split('=')[0];
  return GATE_FLAGS.has(base);
}

function isKnownGateFlag(token) {
  const base = token.startsWith('--') ? token.split('=')[0] : token;
  return GATE_FLAGS.has(base);
}

try {
  parseArgs(process.argv);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.startsWith('Unknown argument')) {
    console.error(`${err.message}. release-approval-gate only accepts --format and --root.`);
    process.exit(2);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: A typo like `--formatt`; a positional path instead of `--root`; a flag from platform-audit or preview-pack-smoke that this gate does not share; shell glob injecting a token.

Common situations: User assumes shared flag sets across ECC gates; version mismatch; stray token from unquoted shell expansion.

Related errors

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

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@01e15490f0 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d31d6ef5a012f24. Report an issue: GitHub.