alibaba/spring-ai-alibaba · error · IllegalArgumentException

Skill path cannot be null or empty

Error message

Skill path cannot be null or empty

What it means

AbstractSkillRegistry.readSkillContentByPath validates that the given skill path is non-null and non-blank before normalizing and looking it up, throwing IllegalArgumentException on blank input. A path is mandatory to locate the registered skill whose full content should be read.

Source

Thrown at spring-ai-alibaba-graph-core/src/main/java/com/alibaba/cloud/ai/graph/skills/registry/AbstractSkillRegistry.java:123

	}

	@Override
	public boolean disableByPath(String skillPath) {
		return findByPathInternal(skillPath)
				.map(SkillMetadata::getName)
				.map(this::disable)
				.orElse(false);
	}

	@Override
	public boolean isDisabled(String name) {
		return name != null && disabledSkillNames.contains(name);
	}

	@Override
	public String readSkillContentByPath(String skillPath) throws IOException {
		if (skillPath == null || skillPath.isBlank()) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Skill path cannot be null or empty");
		}
		requireNormalizedSkillPath(skillPath);
		SkillMetadata skill = getByPath(skillPath)
				.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalStateException("Skill not found: " + skillPath));
		return skill.loadFullContent();
	}

	protected abstract void loadSkillsToRegistry();

	protected static String normalizeSkillPath(String skillPath) {
		try {
			return Path.of(skillPath).toAbsolutePath().normalize().toString();
		}
		catch (InvalidPathException ex) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid skill path: " + skillPath, ex);
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to f82da0b50f)

Solutions

1. Ensure callers pass a real skill path obtained from the registry (e.g. from SkillMetadata.getSkillPath())
2. Guard the input: check skillPath != null && !skillPath.isBlank() before calling
3. Verify the skill was registered so a valid path exists in the first place

Example fix

// before
String content = registry.readSkillContentByPath(skillPath);
// after
if (skillPath == null || skillPath.isBlank()) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("skillPath must be provided"); }
String content = registry.readSkillContentByPath(skillPath);

if (skillPath == null || skillPath.isBlank()) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("skillPath required"); }

boolean validSkillPath(String p) { return p != null && !p.isBlank(); }

try { content = registry.readSkillContentByPath(p); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { log.warn("Bad skill path: {}", e.getMessage()); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling readSkillContentByPath(null) or readSkillContentByPath("") / whitespace-only string, typically when the path originated from an unresolved lookup or empty tool argument.

Common situations: An LLM tool call supplies an empty skill_path argument; upstream code propagates a null path after a failed skill lookup; template variables left unsubstituted.

Related errors

• ${type} requires valid configuration
• Version ID cannot be null
• Configuration cannot be null
• Skill description is required
• Skill path is required

AI-assisted analysis of alibaba/spring-ai-alibaba@f82da0b50f (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/77fde9f22547f52d. Report an issue: GitHub.