angular/angular-cli · error

Invalid builder name:

Error message

Invalid builder name: 

What it means

scheduleBuilder expects a builder name in 'project:target[:configuration]' format (a target-style name). The regex ^[^:]+:[^:]+(:[^:]+)?$ enforces 2–3 colon-separated non-empty segments; anything else throws 'Invalid builder name: ...'.

Source

Thrown at packages/angular_devkit/architect/src/architect.ts:378

      privateArchitectJobRegistry,
      ...(additionalJobRegistry ? [additionalJobRegistry] : []),
    ] as Registry[]);

    this._scheduler = new SimpleScheduler(jobRegistry, registry);
  }

  has(name: JobName): Observable<boolean> {
    return this._scheduler.has(name);
  }

  scheduleBuilder(
    name: string,
    options: json.JsonObject,
    scheduleOptions: ScheduleOptions = {},
  ): Promise<BuilderRun> {
    // The below will match 'project:target:configuration'
    if (!/^[^:]+:[^:]+(:[^:]+)?$/.test(name)) {
      throw new Error('Invalid builder name: ' + JSON.stringify(name));
    }

    return scheduleByName(name, options, {
      scheduler: this._scheduler,
      logger: scheduleOptions.logger || new logging.NullLogger(),
      currentDirectory: this._host.getCurrentDirectory(),
      workspaceRoot: this._host.getWorkspaceRoot(),
    });
  }
  scheduleTarget(
    target: Target,
    overrides: json.JsonObject = {},
    scheduleOptions: ScheduleOptions = {},
  ): Promise<BuilderRun> {
    return scheduleByTarget(target, overrides, {
      scheduler: this._scheduler,
      logger: scheduleOptions.logger || new logging.NullLogger(),
      currentDirectory: this._host.getCurrentDirectory(),

View on GitHub (pinned to bb72145f9a)

Solutions

1. Pass a target-qualified name like 'my-app:build:production' to scheduleBuilder
2. If you only have a package builder name, use architect.scheduleTarget(targetFromTargetString(...)) or scheduleByName with the full name
3. Strip whitespace and validate the 'a:b(:c)' shape before calling
4. Check where the name string originates (config/env) for truncation or missing colons

Example fix

// before
architect.scheduleBuilder('@angular-devkit/build-angular:browser', options)
// after
architect.scheduleBuilder('my-app:build', options)

if (!/^[^:]+:[^:]+(:[^:]+)?$/.test(name)) {
  throw new Error(`scheduleBuilder needs a target-style name (project:target[:config]), got: ${name}`);
}

function isScheduleableBuilderName(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && /^[^:]+:[^:]+(:[^:]+)?$/.test(v);
}

try {
  const run = await architect.scheduleBuilder(name, options);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.startsWith('Invalid builder name:')) {
    console.error(`Use a project:target[:configuration] name, not a package:builder name: ${e.message}`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling architect.scheduleBuilder(name, options) with a bare name like 'browser' or '@angular-devkit/build-angular:browser' (unqualified package:builder form is not valid here), or a string with empty segments like 'a::c'.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Related errors

• Invalid target string:
• Package "${packageName}" has an invalid builder schema path:
• Builder is not a builder
• Cannot load builder for builderInfo ${JSON.stringify(info, n
• Invalid target: ${JSON.stringify(target)}.

AI-assisted analysis of angular/angular-cli@bb72145f9a (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b98f115e26dedf21. Report an issue: GitHub.