deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error · Error

Ralph round report exceeds maxHandoffChars (${serialized.len

Error message

Ralph round report exceeds maxHandoffChars (${serialized.length} > ${args.maxHandoffChars})

What it means

Error "Ralph round report exceeds maxHandoffChars (${serialized.length} > ${args.maxHandoffChars})" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:146

        throw new Error('a continuing Ralph report needs nextSteps and an empty blocker')
      }
      break
    case 'complete':
      if (report.evidence.length === 0 || report.nextSteps.length !== 0 || report.blocker !== '') {
        throw new Error('a complete Ralph report needs evidence, no nextSteps, and an empty blocker')
      }
      break
    case 'blocked':
      if (!normalizedText(report.blocker)) {
        throw new Error('a blocked Ralph report needs a concrete blocker')
      }
      break
    default:
      throw new Error('Ralph round report status is invalid')
  }
  const serialized = JSON.stringify(report)
  if (serialized.length > args.maxHandoffChars) {
    throw new Error('Ralph round report exceeds maxHandoffChars (' + serialized.length + ' > ' + args.maxHandoffChars + ')')
  }
  return report
}

let previous
phase('Fresh-agent rounds')
for (let round = 1; round <= args.maxRounds; round += 1) {
  const prior = previous === undefined ? '(none — this is the first round)' : JSON.stringify(previous)
  const prompt = [
    'You are one fresh worker in a foreground Ralph loop. You receive no parent conversation and no prior child session. Do not call the ralph tool: this round already is its worker.',
    'Immutable objective:\n' + args.objective,
    'Ralph round: ' + round + ' of ' + args.maxRounds + '.',
    'The shared workspace and its current working tree are the long-term memory and source of truth. Inspect them before acting, preserve existing work, perform concrete in-scope work, and verify what you change. Treat the previous report only as a bounded handoff; confirm it against the workspace.',
    'Previous structured handoff:\n' + prior,
    'Return one report with exact normalized strings. Use status continue with at least one nextSteps entry while useful work remains; complete only with concrete evidence and no nextSteps; blocked only when no meaningful progress is possible without human input or an external-state change. blocker must be empty unless blocked.',
  ].join('\n\n')
  const rawReport = await agent(prompt, {
    label: 'Ralph round ' + round,

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Shorten the round report below maxHandoffChars, or raise maxHandoffChars in the Ralph tool configuration if larger handoffs are intended.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:146 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/28eeb60e5d9af449. Report an issue: GitHub.