affaan-m/ECC · error · Error

Unknown option

Error message

Unknown option: ${arg}

What it means

parseArgs in scripts/loop-status.js only recognizes a fixed set of CLI options; any argument not matching a known flag falls into the else branch and throws 'Unknown option: <arg>'. This is a strict allowlist parser: typos, renamed flags, or extra positional arguments are rejected rather than ignored.

Solutions

1. Check the flag spelling against the accepted options in parseArgs (--watch, --watch-count, --watch-interval-seconds, --write-dir, --exit-code, --now, etc.) and fix the typo.
2. Run `node scripts/loop-status.js --help` (or read the script header) to list valid flags.
3. Remove any positional/extra arguments — the parser expects only known flags.
4. If a flag was renamed in a recent update, migrate to the new flag name.

Example fix

// before
node scripts/loop-status.js --watch-cout 5
// after
node scripts/loop-status.js --watch-count 5

const KNOWN = new Set(['--watch','--watch-count','--watch-interval-seconds','--write-dir','--exit-code','--now']);
const bad = args.filter(a => a.startsWith('--') && !KNOWN.has(a));
if (bad.length) throw new Error(`Unknown option(s): ${bad.join(', ')}`);

const isKnownFlag = (arg, known) => known.has(arg);

try { run(args); } catch (e) { if (e.message.startsWith('Unknown option:')) { console.error(`${e.message} — run with --help for valid flags`); process.exitCode = 2; } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Running `node scripts/loop-status.js --wathc` (typo), `--verbose` (unsupported flag), or passing a stray positional like `node scripts/loop-status.js foo`.

Common situations: Typo in a flag name, copying flags from a different script (e.g. memory.js flags like --once), old flags removed in a script update, or forgetting that the script takes no positional arguments.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Unknown argument", "Invalid value", and "must be one of": invalid CLI argument errors explained — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• Unknown option
• requires a value.
• does not accept positional arguments.
• --exit-code with --watch requires --watch-count so the…
• must be a positive integer

AI-assisted analysis of affaan-m/ECC@8321021c54 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/28d068e902fe7423. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at scripts/loop-status.js:121

      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--now') {
      options.now = readValue(args, index, arg);
      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--exit-code') {
      options.exitCode = true;
    } else if (arg === '--watch') {
      options.watch = true;
    } else if (arg === '--watch-count') {
      options.watchCount = readPositiveInteger(readValue(args, index, arg), arg);
      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--watch-interval-seconds') {
      options.watchIntervalSeconds = readPositiveNumber(readValue(args, index, arg), arg);
      index += 1;
    } else if (arg === '--write-dir') {
      options.writeDir = readValue(args, index, arg);
      index += 1;
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Unknown option: ${arg}`);
    }
  }

  if (options.exitCode && options.watch && options.watchCount === null) {
    throw new Error('--exit-code with --watch requires --watch-count so the process can exit');
  }

  return options;
}

function normalizeOptions(options = {}) {
  return {
    ...options,
    bashTimeoutSeconds: options.bashTimeoutSeconds ?? DEFAULT_BASH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS,
    exitCode: Boolean(options.exitCode),
    limit: options.limit ?? DEFAULT_LIMIT,
    transcriptPaths: options.transcriptPaths || [],
    watch: Boolean(options.watch),

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