chocolatey/choco · error · ApplicationException

A Rule Name (-n|--name) is required when getting information

Error message

A Rule Name (-n|--name) is required when getting information for a specific rule.

What it means

Thrown by ChocolateyRuleCommand.Validate when the subcommand is 'get' and no --name (-n) was provided. The get operation requires a specific rule to look up, so a name is mandatory. Without it, the command has no target rule to display.

Source

Thrown at src/chocolatey/infrastructure.app/commands/ChocolateyRuleCommand.cs:137

            OutputRules("Information/Suggestion", config, implementedRules.Where(r => r.Severity == RuleType.Information).ToList());
            OutputRules("Note", config, implementedRules.Where(r => r.Severity == RuleType.Note).ToList());
            OutputRules("Disabled", config, implementedRules.Where(r => r.Severity == RuleType.None).ToList());
        }

        public virtual void Validate(ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            switch (configuration.RuleCommand.Command)
            {
                case "list":
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(configuration.RuleCommand.Name))
                    {
                        throw new ApplicationException("A Rule Name (-n|--name) should not be specified when listing all validation rules.");
                    }
                    break;
                case "get":
                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(configuration.RuleCommand.Name))
                    {
                        throw new ApplicationException("A Rule Name (-n|--name) is required when getting information for a specific rule.");
                    }
                    break;

                default:
                    this.Log().Warn("Unknown command '{0}'. Setting to list.", configuration.RuleCommand.Command);
                    configuration.RuleCommand.Command = "list";
                    Validate(configuration);
                    break;
            }
        }

        protected override string GetCommandDescription(CommandForAttribute attribute, ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {
            return @"Retrieve information about what rule validations are implemented by Chocolatey CLI.";
        }

        protected override IEnumerable<string> GetCommandExamples(CommandForAttribute[] attributes, ChocolateyConfiguration configuration)
        {

View on GitHub (pinned to 0d5abdd10c)

Solutions

Add the required --name flag: 'choco rule get --name=<rule-id>'.
Run 'choco rule list' first to discover available rule ids.
If you want to list all rules, use 'choco rule list' instead.

Example fix

// before
choco rule get
// after
choco rule get --name="CHOCO0001"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Ensure --name is provided for 'get'
if (subcommand == "get" && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ruleName))
{
    Console.Error.WriteLine("'choco rule get' requires --name=<rule-id>. Run 'choco rule list' to see options.");
}

Prevention

Always provide --name with 'choco rule get'.
Use 'choco rule list' when you want all rules.

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'choco rule get' with no --name argument. The switch case 'get' checks if configuration.RuleCommand.Name is null or empty and throws.

Common situations: User runs 'choco rule get' expecting a full listing (that is what 'list' does) without specifying which rule to get. Or the --name flag was omitted by mistake in a script.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of chocolatey/choco@0d5abdd10c (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/124dcefc910fbbbb. Report an issue: GitHub.