eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error · APICallError

Grok CLI execution failed: ${(error as Error).message}

Error message

Grok CLI execution failed: ${(error as Error).message}

What it means

This is the catch-all wrapper in doGenerate: any error thrown while preparing or executing the Grok CLI call — unless it is already a provider error (LoadAPIKeyError etc.), which is rethrown as-is — is wrapped in an API-call error with the prefix 'Grok CLI execution failed:'. It indicates an unexpected exception (spawn failure, timeout, AbortError with different shape, unexpected runtime error) rather than a classified auth/exit-code failure.

Source

Thrown at packages/ai-sdk-provider-grok-cli/src/grok-cli-language-model.ts:386

				},
				providerMetadata: {
					'grok-cli': {
						exitCode: result.exitCode,
						...(result.stderr && { stderr: result.stderr })
					}
				}
			};
		} catch (error) {
			// Re-throw our custom errors
			if (
				(error as any).name === 'APICallError' ||
				(error as any).name === 'LoadAPIKeyError'
			) {
				throw error;
			}

			// Wrap other errors
			throw createAPICallError({
				message: `Grok CLI execution failed: ${(error as Error).message}`,
				code: (error as any).code,
				promptExcerpt: prompt.substring(0, 200),
				isRetryable: false
			});
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Stream text using Grok CLI
	 * Note: Grok CLI doesn't natively support streaming, so this simulates streaming
	 * by generating the full response and then streaming it in chunks
	 */
	async doStream(options: LanguageModelV2CallOptions) {
		const prompt = createPromptFromMessages(options.prompt);
		const warnings = this.generateAllWarnings(options, prompt);

		const stream = new ReadableStream({

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped (error).message and code to find the original underlying cause.
2. Re-run the installation/auth checks (errors 774/775) since race conditions can let the CLI vanish between check and execution.
3. Handle abort/timeout explicitly in your caller and pass a proper AbortSignal so cancellations surface as abort errors, not this wrapper.
4. Update both the provider package and grok-cli to latest versions to rule out compatibility bugs.
5. If it persists, capture the promptExcerpt from the error and file/reproduce with a minimal prompt.

Example fix

// before
const result = await model.doGenerate({ prompt, abortSignal: undefined });
// after
const controller = new AbortController();
setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 60000);
const result = await model.doGenerate({ prompt, abortSignal: controller.signal });

import { execFile } from 'child_process';
import { promisify } from 'util';
const run = promisify(execFile);
await run('grok', ['--version']); // confirm binary exists immediately before doGenerate

function isWrappedExecutionError(e) {
  return e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith('Grok CLI execution failed:');
}

try {
  const controller = new AbortController();
  const timer = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), 60000);
  const result = await model.doGenerate({ prompt, abortSignal: controller.signal });
  clearTimeout(timer);
} catch (e) {
  if (isWrappedExecutionError(e)) {
    console.error('Underlying cause:', e.message, 'code:', e.code);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: doGenerate throws an unclassified error during CLI setup/exec — e.g. child process spawn ENOENT racing the install check, timeout firing, abort signal with unusual reason type, or a bug in prompt/key preparation code.

Common situations: CLI binary removed between check and spawn; extremely long-running generations hitting timeouts; aborting requests in a way the wrapper doesn't recognize; filesystem/permission problems reading grok-cli config; Node version incompatibilities.

Related errors

• Grok CLI authentication failed: ${result.stderr}
• Grok CLI failed with exit code ${result.exitCode}: ${result.
• Command failed with exit code ${result.status}: ${errorOutpu
• UNEXPECTED_ERROR
• CORE_FUNCTION_ERROR

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fdf972e1b6a0b9df. Report an issue: GitHub.