direnv/direnv · error

invalid arguments

Error message

invalid arguments

What it means

`direnv log` expects exactly the command name plus a log type (--status or --error) and a message, i.e. args must have length 3. cmdLog returns this error for any other argument count. The Args spec `[--status | --error] <message>` documents the expected shape.

Source

Thrown at internal/cmd/cmd_log.go:18

package cmd

import (
	"errors"
	"fmt"
)

// CmdLog is `direnv log [--status | --error] <message>`
var CmdLog = &Cmd{
	Name:   "log",
	Desc:   "Logs a given message",
	Args:   []string{"[--status | --error]", "<message>"},
	Action: actionWithConfig(cmdLog),
}

func cmdLog(_ Env, args []string, c *Config) (err error) {
	if len(args) != 3 {
		return errors.New("invalid arguments")
	}
	logType := args[1]
	message := args[2]
	switch logType {
	case "--status", "-status":
		logStatus(c, message)
	case "--error", "-error":
		logError(c, message)
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid log-type '%s'", logType)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to b00e451f54)

Solutions

1. Invoke as `direnv log --status "message"` or `direnv log --error "message"`
2. Quote the message so it is passed as a single argument: `direnv log --status "build done"`
3. Verify the flag spelling is `--status` (or `-status`) as accepted by the switch

Example fix

// before
direnv log build done
// after
direnv log --status "build done"

if [ "$#" -lt 2 ]; then echo "usage: direnv log (--status|--error) <message>" >&2; exit 2; fi
direnv log --status "$*"

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `direnv log` with fewer than two operands (e.g. no message, or no status flag) or more than two, so `len(args) != 3`.

Common situations: Hook scripts or users log status messages and forget the `--status`/`--error` flag; messages containing unquoted spaces get word-split into multiple args making len(args) exceed 3.

Understand the failure class

Background: "no subcommand specified" and "... is required": CLI errors when a required argument is missing — this error's family across 13 libraries.

Related errors

• missing PATH argument
• too many arguments
• a shell name is required
• an envrc path is required
• at least one file path is required

AI-assisted analysis of direnv/direnv@b00e451f54 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9cd252c3af0d824b. Report an issue: GitHub.