chatboxai/chatbox · error · Error

Invalid rerank model format: ${modelString}

Error message

Invalid rerank model format: ${modelString}

What it means

Thrown by getSessionAttachmentRerankProvider when parseKnowledgeBaseModelString(modelString) returns null, meaning the rerank model string does not match the expected 'providerId:modelId' shape (or whatever grammar the parser enforces). Only reached when modelString is truthy, since a null/empty input short-circuits to return null (no reranking).

Source

Thrown at src/main/session-attachment-rag/model-providers.ts:76

export function getDefaultSessionAttachmentRerankModelString(): string | undefined {
  const rerankModel = getDefaultRerankModelString(getSettings())
  log.debug(`[MODEL] Default session attachment rerank model: ${rerankModel ?? 'none'}`)
  return rerankModel
}

export async function getSessionAttachmentRerankProvider(modelString?: string | null) {
  if (!modelString) {
    return null
  }

  return cache(
    `session-attachment-rag:rerank:${modelString}`,
    async () => {
      try {
        const parsed = parseKnowledgeBaseModelString(modelString)
        if (!parsed) {
          throw new Error(`Invalid rerank model format: ${modelString}`)
        }

        const { providerId, modelId } = parsed
        const settings = getSettings()
        const { providerSetting, formattedApiHost } = getProviderSettings(
          {
            ...settings,
            provider: providerId,
            modelId,
          },
          settings
        )

        let apiHost = formattedApiHost
        let token = providerSetting.apiKey
        if (providerId === 'chatbox-ai') {
          apiHost = getChatboxAPIOrigin()
          token = store.get('settings.licenseKey')

View on GitHub (pinned to 81571269ad)

Solutions

1. Re-enter the rerank model in settings as 'providerId:modelId' exactly as documented by parseKnowledgeBaseModelString.
2. Trim and validate the string before saving it in settings.
3. Leave the rerank model unset (null) to disable reranking rather than supplying a broken value.
4. Unit-test the offending string against parseKnowledgeBaseModelString to see which grammar rule it violates.

Example fix

// before
const parsed = parseKnowledgeBaseModelString(modelString)
if (!parsed) throw new Error(`Invalid rerank model format: ${modelString}`)

// settings-save-time validation
const parsed = parseKnowledgeBaseModelString(input)
if (!parsed) { showFieldError('rerank model must be provider:model'); return }

const parsed = parseKnowledgeBaseModelString(modelString)
if (modelString && !parsed) { settings.rerankModel = null; warn('rerank model format invalid') }

function isInvalidRerankFormat(e: unknown): e is Error { return e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Invalid rerank model format:') }

try { return await getSessionAttachmentRerankProvider(modelString) } catch (e) { if (isInvalidRerankFormat(e)) { return null /* disable reranking */ } throw e }

When it happens

Trigger: User-configured rerank model string is malformed: missing colon, empty provider or model id, extra segments, or contains characters the parser rejects. The error is wrapped in the cache closure's try/catch, logged, reported to Sentry, and rethrown.

Common situations: Manual entry of a rerank model id with a typo; settings imported from an older format; copy-paste included whitespace or quotes; a UI field stored the display name instead of the canonical provider:model string.

Related errors

• Missing token for rerank provider: ${providerId}
• Session attachment ${id} not found
• Only failed session attachments can be retried
• Attachment content not found or empty
• Attachment did not produce any retrievable chunks

AI-assisted analysis of chatboxai/chatbox@81571269ad (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3708f5edd7ec238d. Report an issue: GitHub.