can1357/oh-my-pi · error · Error

--alias requires a command name

Error message

--alias requires a command name

What it means

extractProfileFlags saw a bare `--alias` flag with no following command name — the next argv element is absent or begins with `-`. A managed alias must have a concrete name, so parsing aborts with this targeted error.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/cli/profile-bootstrap.ts:131

			}
			profile = value;
			insertBoundaryBeforeNextValue = needsBoundaryAfterGlobalStrip(stripped);
			index += 1;
			continue;
		}
		if (arg.startsWith("--profile=")) {
			const value = arg.slice("--profile=".length);
			if (!value) {
				throw new Error("--profile requires a profile name");
			}
			profile = value;
			insertBoundaryBeforeNextValue = needsBoundaryAfterGlobalStrip(stripped);
			continue;
		}
		if (arg === "--alias") {
			const value = argv[index + 1];
			if (!value || value.startsWith("-")) {
				throw new Error("--alias requires a command name");
			}
			aliasName = value;
			insertBoundaryBeforeNextValue = needsBoundaryAfterGlobalStrip(stripped);
			index += 1;
			continue;
		}
		if (arg.startsWith("--alias=")) {
			const value = arg.slice("--alias=".length);
			if (!value) {
				throw new Error("--alias requires a command name");
			}
			aliasName = value;
			insertBoundaryBeforeNextValue = needsBoundaryAfterGlobalStrip(stripped);
			continue;
		}

		// Known string flags normally consume flag-looking values (for example
		// `--system-prompt --profile foo` means the system prompt is literally

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Supply the alias name: `omp --profile <name> --alias <aliasName>`
2. Use `--alias=<name>` to bind the value explicitly
3. Reorder flags so the alias name directly follows --alias

Example fix

// before
omp --profile work --alias
// after
omp --profile work --alias work

const i = argv.indexOf("--alias");
if (i !== -1) {
  const v = argv[i + 1];
  if (!v || v.startsWith("-")) throw new Error("--alias requires a name: use --alias <name> or --alias=<name>");
}

function aliasFlagHasValue(argv: string[]): boolean {
  const i = argv.indexOf("--alias");
  return i === -1 || (i + 1 < argv.length && !argv[i + 1].startsWith("-"));
}

try {
  await runCli(argv);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message === "--alias requires a command name") {
    console.error("Usage: omp --profile <name> --alias <aliasName>");
    process.exitCode = 2;
    return;
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `omp --profile work --alias` (end of argv) or `omp --alias --profile work` where the token after `--alias` is another flag.

Common situations: Re-running a command from history where the alias name was lost; swapping flag order and forgetting the value; scripts with an empty alias variable followed by more flags.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• --alias requires a named --profile value.
• --profile requires a profile name
• unknown file type: {value}
• invalid size: {value}
• 2

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8001aa34b97261dc. Report an issue: GitHub.