continuedev/continue · error · ContinueError

MultiEditEditsArrayRequired

MultiEditEditsArrayRequired

Error message

invalid multi-edit args

What it means

Thrown by validateMultiEdit when the multi-edit arguments are not a non-null object containing an 'edits' property. This is the outermost shape check before any edit is inspected individually, guarding against completely malformed input.

Source

Thrown at core/edit/searchAndReplace/multiEditValidation.ts:15

import { EditOperation } from "../../tools/definitions/multiEdit";
import { ContinueError, ContinueErrorReason } from "../../util/errors";
import { validateSingleEdit } from "./findAndReplaceUtils";

/**
 * Validates multi-edit arguments and all edits in a single pass
 * @param args - The arguments object containing the edits array
 * @returns Validated edits array
 * @throws ContinueError if validation fails
 */
export function validateMultiEdit(args: unknown): {
  edits: EditOperation[];
} {
  if (typeof args !== "object" || !args || !("edits" in args)) {
    throw new ContinueError(
      ContinueErrorReason.MultiEditEditsArrayRequired,
      "invalid multi-edit args",
    );
  }

  // Validate that edits is a non-empty array
  if (!Array.isArray(args.edits)) {
    throw new ContinueError(
      ContinueErrorReason.MultiEditEditsArrayRequired,
      "edits array is required",
    );
  }
  const { edits } = args;

  if (edits.length === 0) {
    throw new ContinueError(
      ContinueErrorReason.MultiEditEditsArrayEmpty,
      "edits array must contain at least one edit",

View on GitHub (pinned to 5522c6f44c)

Solutions

1. Wrap the array: call with { edits: [...] }
2. Check the key name is exactly 'edits' (plural)
3. If building the payload dynamically, assert Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(args, 'edits') first

Example fix

// before
await multiEdit([{ old_string: "a", new_string: "b" }]);
// after
await multiEdit({ edits: [{ old_string: "a", new_string: "b" }] });

if (typeof args !== 'object' || args === null || !('edits' in args)) throw new TypeError('expected { edits: [...] }');

const isMultiEditArgs = (a: unknown): a is { edits: unknown[] } => typeof a === 'object' && a !== null && Array.isArray((a as any).edits);

catch (e) { if (e.message.includes('invalid multi-edit args')) fixPayloadShape(); else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling multi-edit with null, undefined, a string, an array, or an object without an 'edits' key, e.g. passing the edits array directly instead of wrapping it in { edits: [...] }.

Common situations: LLM tool-call JSON that forgot the wrapper object; callers spreading the wrong variable; passing { edit: [...] } (singular) by typo.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• MultiEditEditsArrayEmpty
• Table name must be in format schema.table_name, got ${tableN
• Only rule files can be deleted
• FindAndReplaceMissingOldString
• FindAndReplaceMissingNewString

AI-assisted analysis of continuedev/continue@5522c6f44c (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c8cd7b76c7e030f8. Report an issue: GitHub.