badges/shields · error · InvalidResponse

metadata in unexpected format

Error message

metadata in unexpected format

What it means

The OSSLifecycle service fetches a repo's OSSLifecycle.md file and extracts the status with the regex /osslifecycle=([a-z]+)/im. If the file is missing the `osslifecycle=<value>` line (or it is formatted differently), the match returns null and the code throws InvalidResponse with this message.

Source

Thrown at services/osslifecycle/osslifecycle.service.js:90

      color,
    }
  }

  async fetch({ fileUrl }) {
    return this._request({
      url: fileUrl,
    })
  }

  async handle(pathParams, { file_url: fileUrl = '' }) {
    const { buffer } = await this.fetch({
      fileUrl,
    })
    try {
      const status = buffer.match(/osslifecycle=([a-z]+)/im)[1]
      return this.constructor.render({ status })
    } catch (e) {
      throw new InvalidResponse({
        prettyMessage: 'metadata in unexpected format',
      })
    }
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 766fd8bc89)

Solutions

1. Ensure OSSLifecycle.md contains a line of the form `osslifecycle=active` (lowercase value, equals sign, no spaces).
2. Check the value only uses lowercase a-z characters, or update the file to a supported format.
3. Confirm the file is at the repo root (or the fileUrl the badge fetches) and is named exactly OSSLifecycle.md.
4. If a legitimate format is rejected, the service regex needs widening — file an issue upstream.

Example fix

// before (OSSLifecycle.md)
This project is active.
// after
osslifecycle=active

const content = fs.readFileSync('OSSLifecycle.md', 'utf8')
if (!/osslifecycle=([a-z]+)/im.test(content)) {
  throw new Error('OSSLifecycle.md must contain a line like: osslifecycle=active')
}

function hasLifecycleStatus(text) {
  const m = text && typeof text === 'string' && text.match(/osslifecycle=([a-z]+)/im)
  return Boolean(m && m[1])
}

try {
  const badge = await getOssLifecycleBadge(repo)
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'metadata in unexpected format') {
    // fix OSSLifecycle.md format or drop the badge
  } else { throw e }
}

When it happens

Trigger: The OSSLifecycle.md file exists but does not contain a line matching `osslifecycle=` followed by lowercase letters — e.g. empty file, value contains digits/hyphens/uppercase-only format like `osslifecycle-attribute = active`, or the marker is misspelled.

Common situations: Repos where the file was renamed or its content template changed; lifecycle values written as `active-maintenance` (hyphen breaks [a-z]+); files with different casing/spacing such as `osslifecycle: active`.

Related errors

• version invalid
• unparseable svg response
• unparseable toml response
• unparseable xml response
• unparseable yaml response

AI-assisted analysis of badges/shields@766fd8bc89 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/42281d39bfb5c4bb. Report an issue: GitHub.