can1357/oh-my-pi · error · CliUsageError

Invalid --max-time value: ${JSON.stringify(value)}. Expected

Error message

Invalid --max-time value: ${JSON.stringify(value)}. Expected a positive number of seconds or duration like "5s", "10m", "1h".

What it means

parseMaxTimeSeconds (used by the --max-time flag setter in flag-tables.ts) accepts a positive number of seconds or a duration like 5s/10m/1h. Anything else — non-numeric text, zero, negative, NaN, or unsupported units — raises this CliUsageError before the command runs.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/cli/flag-tables.ts:102

const setResume: OptionalSetter = (result, value) => {
	result.resume = value !== undefined ? value : true;
};

const MAX_TIME_DURATION_RE = /^(\d+(?:\.\d+)?)([smh])$/;

function maxTimeMultiplier(unit: string | undefined): number {
	if (unit === "h") return 3600;
	if (unit === "m") return 60;
	return 1;
}

function parseMaxTimeSeconds(value: string): number {
	const trimmed = value.trim();
	const duration = MAX_TIME_DURATION_RE.exec(trimmed);
	const seconds = duration ? Number(duration[1]) * maxTimeMultiplier(duration[2]) : Number(trimmed);
	if (Number.isFinite(seconds) && seconds > 0) return seconds;
	throw new CliUsageError(
		`Invalid --max-time value: ${JSON.stringify(value)}. Expected a positive number of seconds or duration like "5s", "10m", "1h".`,
	);
}

/**
 * Setters for flags with string values. Most built-ins consume the next argv
 * token even when it starts with `-`; flags listed in
 * {@link EXTENSION_SHADOWABLE_STRING_FLAGS} use extension-style consumption so
 * a registered boolean extension can shadow them before profile bootstrap.
 */
export const STRING_SETTERS: Record<string, StringSetter> = {
	"--cwd": (result, value) => {
		result.cwd = value;
	},
	"--config": (result, value) => {
		result.config = [...(result.config ?? []), value];
	},
	"--add-dir": (result, value) => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

Use a plain positive number of seconds: --max-time 30
Or use a supported duration suffix: --max-time 5s, --max-time 10m, --max-time 1h (no space before the unit)
Check the flag actually received the value (quote it: --max-time "10m") and the unit is a recognized multiplier
Ensure the value is > 0; zero and negatives are rejected

Example fix

// before
omp <cmd> --max-time 5min
// after
omp <cmd> --max-time 5m

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const MAX_TIME_RE = /^(\d+(?:\.\d+)?)([smh])?$/;
const MULT = { s: 1, m: 60, h: 3600 };
function assertMaxTime(v) {
  const m = MAX_TIME_RE.exec(String(v).trim());
  const s = m ? Number(m[1]) * MULT[m[2] ?? 's'] : Number(v);
  if (!Number.isFinite(s) || s <= 0) throw new Error(`Invalid --max-time: ${v}`);
}

Try / catch

try {
  parse('--max-time', value);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof CliUsageError && e.message.includes('--max-time')) {
    console.error('Use seconds (30) or a duration like 5s / 10m / 1h, greater than zero.');
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Use plain seconds or the exact suffixes s/m/h with no space (`5s`, not `5 sec`)
Never pass 0 or negative values
Quote duration values in shell scripts so they arrive intact

When it happens

Trigger: `--max-time abc`, `--max-time 0`, `--max-time -5`, `--max-time 5x` (unknown unit), `--max-time 5 s` (space inside duration), or `--max-time ''` (empty string).

Common situations: Users assuming milliseconds (`--max-time 30000` is 30000 s, not 30 s — that parses but note units), writing `5sec` or `5min` which don't match the duration regex, or shells splitting `5s` and losing it so the flag receives an empty/garbage value.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/05d4347a5d3123e9. Report an issue: GitHub.