deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error · Error

Ralph objective must be a non-empty string

Error message

Ralph objective must be a non-empty string

What it means

Error "Ralph objective must be a non-empty string" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:443

    },
    output: {
      schema: {
        type: 'object',
        additionalProperties: false,
        properties: RALPH_OUTPUT_PROPERTIES,
      },
      render: (_args, value) => [{
        type: 'text',
        text: renderResult(value.result as unknown as RalphRunResult, resolved.maxResultChars),
      }],
    },
    async execute(args, exec) {
      const parent = exec.agent
      if (parent === undefined) {
        throw new Error('Ralph tool requires a calling agent (exec.agent was undefined)')
      }
      const objective = args.objective.trim()
      if (objective.length === 0) throw new Error('Ralph objective must be a non-empty string')
      const maxRounds = resolveMaxRounds(args.maxRounds, resolved.maxRounds)
      void requireFreshProvider(ctx, resolved.subagentProvider)

      const run: WorkflowRun = ctx.workflowEngine.start({
        script: RALPH_SCRIPT,
        meta: RALPH_META,
        args: { objective, maxRounds, maxHandoffChars: resolved.maxHandoffChars },
        subagentProvider: resolved.subagentProvider,
        maxTotalAgents: maxRounds,
        parent,
        signal: exec.signal,
      })
      const onAbort = (): void => { run.cancel('parent step aborted') }
      exec.signal.addEventListener('abort', onAbort, { once: true })
      if (exec.signal.aborted) run.cancel('parent step aborted')

      try {
        const settled = await run.result

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-empty objective string to the Ralph tool.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:443 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/0fe1d073e5e0421e. Report an issue: GitHub.