clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB · error · anyhow::Error

PROJECT_NAME is required in non-interactive mode

Error message

PROJECT_NAME is required in non-interactive mode

What it means

init prompts for a project name interactively (defaulting to my-spacetime-app), but with `--non-interactive` (or any scripted context that disables prompting) there is no prompt, so the name must already be provided via `--project-name` or init aborts before doing anything.

Source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/subcommands/init.rs:271

        println!("{}", "Continuing with local deployment.".yellow());
        Ok(false)
    }
}

fn slugify(name: &str) -> String {
    name.to_case(Case::Kebab)
}

async fn get_project_name(options: &InitOptions, is_interactive: bool) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
    if let Some(name) = &options.project_name {
        if is_interactive {
            println!("{} {}", "Project name:".bold(), name);
        }
        return Ok(name.clone());
    }

    if !is_interactive {
        anyhow::bail!("PROJECT_NAME is required in non-interactive mode");
    }

    let default_project_name = options
        .project_name_default
        .clone()
        .unwrap_or_else(|| "my-spacetime-app".to_string());

    let theme = ColorfulTheme::default();
    let name = Input::with_theme(&theme)
        .with_prompt("Project name")
        .default(default_project_name)
        .validate_with(|input: &String| -> Result<(), String> {
            if input.trim().is_empty() {
                return Err("Project name cannot be empty".to_string());
            }
            Ok(())
        })
        .interact_text()?

View on GitHub (pinned to 524b4487d9)

Solutions

1. Pass the name: `spacetime init --non-interactive --project-name my-app --lang rust`
2. Or run interactively (omit --non-interactive and keep a TTY) to get the prompt with its default
3. In containers, use `docker run -it` / `script -qc` if you actually want prompts

Example fix

# before
spacetime init --non-interactive --lang rust

# after
spacetime init --non-interactive --project-name my-app --lang rust

# Require a name whenever prompts are disabled:
if [[ "$NON_INTERACTIVE" == "true" && -z "$PROJECT_NAME" ]]; then
  echo "--project-name is required with --non-interactive" >&2; exit 2
fi
spacetime init --non-interactive --project-name "$PROJECT_NAME" --lang rust

When it happens

Trigger: `spacetime init --non-interactive --lang rust` with no `--project-name`; CI jobs, Dockerfiles, and make targets that call init without a name; piping stdin so the interactive prompt cannot appear.

Common situations: CI pipelines and container builds; automation scripts written against interactive behavior; forgetting that the flag disabling prompts also removes the name default.

Related errors

• Either --template or --lang must be provided in non-interact
• Unknown server language: {}
• Unknown client language: {}
• --dotnet-version is only supported for C# projects (--lang c
• Path {} exists but is not a directory. A new SpacetimeDB pro

AI-assisted analysis of clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB@524b4487d9 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d7926ccf36bf710. Report an issue: GitHub.