invalid delay or time %q (use duration like 2h30m, or ISO ti

Error message

invalid delay or time %q (use duration like 2h30m, or ISO time like 2026-05-15T14:00)

What it means

This is the final fallback error of ParseDelayOrTime: the input is non-empty, failed time.ParseDuration, and matched none of the supported ISO/local time layouts. The message quotes the offending input and states both accepted formats so the user can self-correct.

Source

Thrown at core/timer.go:488

		{time.RFC3339, false},
		{"2006-01-02T15:04:05", true},
		{"2006-01-02T15:04", true},
		{"2006-01-02 15:04:05", true},
		{"2006-01-02 15:04", true},
	}
	for _, l := range layouts {
		if l.local {
			if t, err := time.ParseInLocation(l.layout, s, time.Local); err == nil {
				return t, nil
			}
		} else {
			if t, err := time.Parse(l.layout, s); err == nil {
				return t, nil
			}
		}
	}

	return time.Time{}, fmt.Errorf("invalid delay or time %q (use duration like 2h30m, or ISO time like 2026-05-15T14:00)", s)
}

// FormatTimerRemaining returns a human-readable string for time remaining
// until the scheduled fire time.
func FormatTimerRemaining(scheduledAt time.Time) string {
	d := time.Until(scheduledAt)
	if d <= 0 {
		return "overdue"
	}
	if d < time.Minute {
		secs := int(d.Seconds() + 0.5) // round up for countdown display
		if secs >= 60 {
			return "1m"
		}
		return fmt.Sprintf("%ds", secs)
	}
	if d < time.Hour {
		mins := int(d.Minutes() + 0.5) // round up for countdown display

View on GitHub (pinned to 4000b2338a)

Solutions

Use a Go duration string: '2h', '30m', '1h30m', '2h30m15s'.
Use an ISO 8601 time like '2026-05-15T14:00' or with timezone '2026-05-15T14:00:00+08:00'.
Translate natural-language or locale dates to one of the supported formats before calling (e.g. with a dateparse library or LLM preprocessing in the command handler).
Check the error text: it echoes the rejected input in %q, confirming what was actually parsed.

Example fix

// before
at, err := core.ParseDelayOrTime("tomorrow 5pm")
// after
at, err := core.ParseDelayOrTime("24h") // or "2026-05-16T17:00"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func looksLikeDelayOrTime(s string) bool {
    if _, err := time.ParseDuration(s); err == nil { return true }
    for _, layout := range []string{time.RFC3339, "2006-01-02T15:04", "2006-01-02T15:04:05"} {
        if _, err := time.Parse(layout, s); err == nil { return true }
    }
    return false
}

Try / catch

at, err := core.ParseDelayOrTime(arg)
if err != nil {
    reply(fmt.Sprintf("Could not understand %q. Use 2h30m or 2026-05-15T14:00.", arg))
    return
}

Prevention

Document accepted formats in the command's help/usage output.
Reject natural-language dates upstream or convert them before parsing.
Echo the offending input back to the user on failure.
Add unit tests covering locale date strings users commonly type.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ParseDelayOrTime with a string that is neither a Go duration nor one of the supported time layouts, e.g. "tomorrow 5pm", "15/05/2026 14:00", "next monday", or an ISO date without time "2026-05-15".

Common situations: Users writing natural-language times ('in two hours', 'tonight'); locale-formatted dates (dd/mm/yyyy); missing seconds/timezone assumptions; passing a date-only string when a time is required.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of chenhg5/cc-connect@4000b2338a (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7f3c7c3505a1bd96. Report an issue: GitHub.