can1357/oh-my-pi · error · Error

Invalid alias "omp". Refusing to shadow the base omp command

Error message

Invalid alias "omp". Refusing to shadow the base omp command.

What it means

validateAliasName rejects the alias name "omp" (case-insensitive) because installing a shell alias with that name would shadow the base omp CLI command itself, breaking invocation of the unaliased tool. The check runs after the ALIAS_NAME_RE format check and before the shell-reserved-word check. It exists so a user can never accidentally make `omp` in their shell resolve back into a profile-wrapped alias recursively.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/cli/profile-alias.ts:158

	switch (shell) {
		case "bash":
		case "zsh":
			return POSIX_RESERVED_ALIAS_NAMES;
		case "fish":
			return FISH_RESERVED_ALIAS_NAMES;
		case "powershell":
		case "pwsh":
			return POWERSHELL_RESERVED_ALIAS_NAMES;
	}
}

function validateAliasName(aliasName: string, shell: ProfileAliasShell): string {
	const normalized = aliasName.trim();
	if (!ALIAS_NAME_RE.test(normalized)) {
		throw new Error(`Invalid alias "${aliasName}". Alias names must match ${ALIAS_NAME_RE.source}.`);
	}
	if (normalized.toLowerCase() === "omp") {
		throw new Error('Invalid alias "omp". Refusing to shadow the base omp command.');
	}
	if (getReservedAliasNames(shell).has(normalized.toLowerCase())) {
		throw new Error(`Invalid alias "${aliasName}". Refusing to create a ${shell} reserved word.`);
	}
	return normalized;
}

// On Windows the launching shell is rarely exported through $SHELL, so when it
// is missing we infer the PowerShell edition from the inherited environment.
// PowerShell 7 (pwsh) always seeds PSModulePath with separator-delimited
// ".../PowerShell/..." module directories (plus the Windows PowerShell ones for
// back-compat), whereas Windows PowerShell 5.1 only ever lists
// ".../WindowsPowerShell/...". The separator anchors keep "WindowsPowerShell"
// from matching. POWERSHELL_DISTRIBUTION_CHANNEL is set only by some pwsh
// distributions, so it stays a secondary hint rather than the primary signal.
function detectWindowsPowerShell(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): ProfileAliasShell {
	const modulePath = env.PSModulePath ?? env.PSMODULEPATH ?? env.psmodulepath ?? "";
	if (/[\\/]PowerShell[\\/]/i.test(modulePath)) return "pwsh";

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Choose a different alias name that is not "omp" (case-insensitive), e.g. `--alias omp-work`
2. Call the base command explicitly with --profile when you want that profile instead of installing an alias named omp
3. If you truly need a bare `omp` wrapper, use a shell function with a different internal resolution rather than the managed alias installer

Example fix

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

const name = aliasName.trim();
if (name.toLowerCase() === "omp") throw new Error(`Alias "${aliasName}" would shadow the base omp command; pick another name`);

function isSafeAliasName(name: string): boolean {
  return name.trim().toLowerCase() !== "omp";
}

try {
  await installProfileAlias({ profile, aliasName });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('Refusing to shadow the base omp command')) {
    console.error(`Alias "${aliasName}" is reserved; choose a different name.`);
    process.exitCode = 2;
    return;
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `omp --profile <name> --alias omp` (or `--alias=OMP` / any casing) to install a profile alias whose name is exactly "omp".

Common situations: Users who want every omp invocation to use a profile assume the alias should just be named `omp` and try to overwrite the launcher with itself; shell completion or docs suggesting `alias omp=...` copied into the --alias flag.

Related errors

• Invalid alias "${aliasName}". Alias names must match ${ALIAS
• Invalid alias "${aliasName}". Refusing to create a ${shell}
• invalid {} argument: {}
• invalid Zero increment value: {}
• --agents must be a positive integer

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c1cd2517c4dc4da. Report an issue: GitHub.