can1357/oh-my-pi · error · ToolError

program is required for launch

Error message

program is required for launch

What it means

The launch action requires a `program` parameter identifying what to debug. execute checks `!params.program` in the launch case and throws before any adapter resolution occurs. Without a program there is no target for the DAP adapter to launch.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/tools/debug.ts:740

		return session.settings.get("debug.enabled") ? new DebugTool(session) : null;
	}

	async execute(
		_toolCallId: string,
		params: DebugParams,
		signal?: AbortSignal,
		_onUpdate?: AgentToolUpdateCallback<DebugToolDetails>,
		_context?: AgentToolContext,
	): Promise<AgentToolResult<DebugToolDetails>> {
		const timeoutSec = clampTimeout("debug", params.timeout, this.session.settings.get("tools.maxTimeout"));
		const timeoutSignal = AbortSignal.timeout(timeoutSec * 1000);
		const combinedSignal = signal ? AbortSignal.any([signal, timeoutSignal]) : timeoutSignal;
		const details: DebugToolDetails = { action: params.action, success: true };
		const result = toolResult(details);
		switch (params.action) {
			case "launch": {
				if (!params.program) {
					throw new ToolError("program is required for launch");
				}
				const commandCwd = params.cwd ? resolveToCwd(params.cwd, this.session.cwd) : this.session.cwd;
				const program = resolveToCwd(params.program, commandCwd);
				const programKind = await classifyLaunchProgram(program);
				const selection = selectLaunchAdapter(program, commandCwd, params.adapter, programKind);
				if (selection.kind === "unavailable") {
					throw new ToolError(formatAdapterUnavailable(selection.adapterName, selection.command, commandCwd));
				}
				if (selection.kind === "none") {
					throw new ToolError(
						`No debugger adapter available. Installed adapters: ${getConfiguredAdapters(commandCwd)}`,
					);
				}
				const { adapter } = selection;
				validateLaunchProgram(program, commandCwd, programKind, adapter);
				const extraLaunchArguments = resolveLaunchOverrides(adapter, program, programKind);
				const snapshot = await dapSessionManager.launch(
					{ adapter, program, args: params.args, cwd: commandCwd, extraLaunchArguments },

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Add the `program` parameter with the executable/entry-file path.
2. If you intended to debug an already-running process, use action="attach" with `pid` or `port` instead.
3. If launching needs a working directory too, set `cwd` alongside `program`.

Example fix

// before
{ "action": "launch" }
// after
{ "action": "launch", "program": "./src/main.py", "cwd": "./src" }

function assertLaunchArgs(params: { action: string; program?: string }): asserts params is { action: "launch"; program: string } {
  if (params.action === "launch" && !params.program) throw new Error("program required for launch");
}

function hasProgram(p: { program?: string }): p is { program: string } & typeof p {
  return typeof p.program === "string" && p.program.length > 0;
}

try {
  return await debugTool({ action: "launch", program });
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes("program is required for launch")) {
    return await debugTool({ action: "attach", pid }); // attach semantics instead
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the debug tool with action="launch" but omitting the `program` parameter (or passing an empty string/undefined).

Common situations: Copy-pasting a tool invocation meant for attach (which uses pid/port) into launch; the orchestrating agent filled args for the wrong action; a config-driven invocation where the program field was dropped.

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

• attach requires pid or port
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• Pass at least one model selector, e.g. `omp bench opus gpt-5
• No snippet provided. Pass inline text, --file <path>, or pip

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fefafeb9464e8ee2. Report an issue: GitHub.