bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD · error · Error

--set "${entry}": empty module or key. Expected <module>.<ke

Error message

--set "${entry}": empty module or key. Expected <module>.<key>=<value>

What it means

Thrown by parseSetEntry when the LHS splits on '.' but either side trims to empty. The format requires both module and key to be non-empty identifiers; whitespace-only or missing segments are rejected.

Source

Thrown at tools/installer/set-overrides.js:55

    throw new Error('--set: empty entry. Expected <module>.<key>=<value>');
  }
  const eq = entry.indexOf('=');
  if (eq === -1) {
    throw new Error(`--set "${entry}": missing '='. Expected <module>.<key>=<value>`);
  }
  const lhs = entry.slice(0, eq);
  // Note: only the LHS is trimmed. Values may legitimately contain leading
  // or trailing whitespace (paths with spaces, quoted strings); module / key
  // names cannot, so it's safe to be strict on the left.
  const value = entry.slice(eq + 1);
  const dot = lhs.indexOf('.');
  if (dot === -1) {
    throw new Error(`--set "${entry}": missing '.'. Expected <module>.<key>=<value>`);
  }
  const moduleCode = lhs.slice(0, dot).trim();
  const key = lhs.slice(dot + 1).trim();
  if (!moduleCode || !key) {
    throw new Error(`--set "${entry}": empty module or key. Expected <module>.<key>=<value>`);
  }
  if (PROTOTYPE_POLLUTING_NAMES.has(moduleCode) || PROTOTYPE_POLLUTING_NAMES.has(key)) {
    throw new Error(
      `--set "${entry}": '__proto__', 'prototype', and 'constructor' are reserved and cannot be used as a module or key name.`,
    );
  }
  return { module: moduleCode, key, value };
}

/**
 * Parse repeated `--set` entries into a `{ module: { key: value } }` map.
 * Later entries overwrite earlier ones for the same key. Both the outer
 * map and the per-module inner maps are `Object.create(null)` so callers
 * that bypass `parseSetEntry`'s name check still can't pollute prototypes.
 *
 * @param {string[]} entries
 * @returns {Object<string, Object<string, string>>}
 */

View on GitHub (pinned to b70486b9bd)

Solutions

  1. Ensure both the module and key segments are non-empty identifiers.
  2. Remove stray dots or stray whitespace around the dot.
  3. If generating args from a template, validate each field is populated before emitting.

Example fix

# before
#   --set .project_knowledge=research     # empty module
#   --set bmm.=research                     # empty key
#
# after
#   --set bmm.project_knowledge=research
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function hasNonEmptyModuleAndKey(entry) {
  const eq = entry.indexOf('='); if (eq === -1) return false;
  const lhs = entry.slice(0, eq);
  const dot = lhs.indexOf('.'); if (dot === -1) return false;
  return lhs.slice(0, dot).trim().length > 0 && lhs.slice(dot + 1).trim().length > 0;
}
const entries = raw.filter(hasNonEmptyModuleAndKey);

Type guard

function isValidSetEntry(entry) {
  return typeof entry === 'string' && /^[^.\s]+\.[^.\s]+=.+$/.test(entry);
}

Try / catch

try {
  overrides = parseSetEntries(entries);
} catch (e) {
  if (/empty module or key/.test(e.message)) {
    // strip entries with stray dots/whitespace and retry
  } else { throw e; }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --set .key=value (empty module), --set module.=value (empty key), or --set module. =value (whitespace-only key).

Common situations: Leading/trailing dot typo; whitespace sneaking in via copy-paste; a templating layer emitting 'module.${field}' with field unset.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of bmad-code-org/BMAD-METHOD@b70486b9bd (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b02d22cc72cfdbb8. Report an issue: GitHub.