deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error

invalid argv: expected a non-empty program name at argv[0]

Error message

invalid argv: expected a non-empty program name at argv[0]

What it means

Error "invalid argv: expected a non-empty program name at argv[0]" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/subprocess/subprocess-local/src/spawn.ts:340

 * @param internals - test-only spill-directory, platform, and taskkill overrides.
 * @returns live subprocess handle.
 * @throws when `graceMs` cannot be represented by one Node timer.
 */
export function spawnSubprocess(spec: SubprocessSpawnSpec, internals: SpawnInternals = {}): LocalSubprocessHandle {
  if (!Number.isFinite(spec.graceMs) || spec.graceMs <= 0 || spec.graceMs > MAX_TIMER_DELAY_MS) {
    throw new Error(`subprocess graceMs must be a positive finite number no greater than ${MAX_TIMER_DELAY_MS}`)
  }
  const spillDir = internals.spillDir ?? privateSpillDir()
  const platform = internals.platform ?? process.platform
  const taskkill = internals.taskkill ?? taskkillProcessTree
  const linuxGroupHasLiveMembers = internals.linuxProcessGroupHasLiveMembers ?? linuxProcessGroupHasLiveMembers

  if (spec.signal?.aborted) {
    throw new Error(`aborted before spawn: ${String(spec.signal.reason ?? 'aborted')}`)
  }
  const [program, ...args] = spec.argv
  if (program === undefined || program.length === 0) {
    throw new Error('invalid argv: expected a non-empty program name at argv[0]')
  }

  const isCollect = (mode: SubprocessOutputMode): mode is SubprocessCollect =>
    mode !== 'pipe' && mode !== 'inherit'
  const outMode = spec.stdio.stdout
  const errMode = spec.stdio.stderr
  const stdinMode = spec.stdio.stdin

  const env = childEnv(spec.env)
  const child = spawn(program, args, {
    cwd: spec.cwd,
    env,
    stdio: [
      stdinMode === 'ignore' ? 'ignore' : 'pipe',
      outMode === 'inherit' ? 'inherit' : 'pipe',
      errMode === 'inherit' ? 'inherit' : 'pipe',
    ],
    // `detached` gives teardown a tree root on POSIX (its own process group);

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Pass argv with a non-empty program name at index 0.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/subprocess/subprocess-local/src/spawn.ts:340 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/feb5b8decebd36ec. Report an issue: GitHub.