deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error · Error

Ralph workflow returned a malformed round report

Error message

Ralph workflow returned a malformed round report

What it means

Error "Ralph workflow returned a malformed round report" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:256

function normalizedText(value: unknown): value is string {
  return typeof value === 'string' && value.length > 0 && value === value.trim()
}

function normalizedList(value: unknown): value is string[] {
  return Array.isArray(value) && value.every(normalizedText)
}

/** Defensively decode the fixed script's report across a provider boundary. */
function readReport(value: unknown, expectedStatus: RalphRoundStatus, maxChars: number): RalphRoundReport {
  if (!isRecord(value)
    || Object.keys(value).sort().join(',') !== 'blocker,evidence,nextSteps,status,summary'
    || value['status'] !== expectedStatus
    || !normalizedText(value['summary'])
    || !normalizedList(value['evidence'])
    || !normalizedList(value['nextSteps'])
    || typeof value['blocker'] !== 'string'
    || value['blocker'] !== value['blocker'].trim()) {
    throw new Error('Ralph workflow returned a malformed round report')
  }
  const report: RalphRoundReport = {
    status: expectedStatus,
    summary: value['summary'],
    evidence: value['evidence'],
    nextSteps: value['nextSteps'],
    blocker: value['blocker'],
  }
  if (expectedStatus === 'continue' && (report.nextSteps.length === 0 || report.blocker !== '')) {
    throw new Error('Ralph workflow returned an invalid continuing report')
  }
  if (expectedStatus === 'complete'
    && (report.evidence.length === 0 || report.nextSteps.length !== 0 || report.blocker !== '')) {
    throw new Error('Ralph workflow returned an invalid completion report')
  }
  if (expectedStatus === 'blocked' && !normalizedText(report.blocker)) {
    throw new Error('Ralph workflow returned an invalid blocked report')
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Fix the Ralph workflow provider so each round returns a report matching the round-report schema; inspect the malformed report in the session log.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/workflow/tool-ralph/src/index.ts:256 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ad8149714d96b043. Report an issue: GitHub.