eyaltoledano/claude-task-master · error

projectRoot is required for getGitHubRepoInfo

Error message

projectRoot is required for getGitHubRepoInfo

What it means

getGitHubRepoInfo shells out to 'gh repo view --json name,owner,defaultBranchRef' with cwd=projectRoot. An empty projectRoot cannot be used as the working directory, so the guard throws this error before running the command. Note that this error is distinct from gh CLI being missing — that path returns null instead.

Source

Thrown at packages/tm-core/src/common/utils/git-utils.ts:163

 */
export async function isGhCliAvailable(projectRoot?: string): Promise<boolean> {
	try {
		const options = projectRoot ? { cwd: projectRoot } : {};
		await execAsync('gh auth status', options);
		return true;
	} catch (error) {
		return false;
	}
}

/**
 * Get GitHub repository information using gh CLI
 */
export async function getGitHubRepoInfo(
	projectRoot: string
): Promise<GitHubRepoInfo | null> {
	if (!projectRoot) {
		throw new Error('projectRoot is required for getGitHubRepoInfo');
	}

	try {
		const { stdout } = await execAsync(
			'gh repo view --json name,owner,defaultBranchRef',
			{ cwd: projectRoot }
		);
		return JSON.parse(stdout) as GitHubRepoInfo;
	} catch (error) {
		return null;
	}
}

/**
 * Get git repository root directory
 */
export async function getGitRepositoryRoot(
	projectRoot: string

View on GitHub (pinned to c0c98d367c)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-empty repository path that is inside a GitHub-backed git repo
2. Default to process.cwd() when the configured root is missing
3. Verify upstream projectRoot resolution before calling; log the value if unsure
4. If only default-branch info is needed, handle null return paths and guard the root yourself

Example fix

// before
const info = await getGitHubRepoInfo(opts.projectRoot);
// after
const root = opts.projectRoot || process.cwd();
if (!root) throw new Error('Unable to determine project root');
const info = await getGitHubRepoInfo(root);

if (!projectRoot || typeof projectRoot !== 'string') {
  throw new Error('projectRoot required before querying gh repo info');
}
// additionally confirm gh availability separately; missing gh returns null, not a throw:
const info = await getGitHubRepoInfo(projectRoot); // null when gh absent

function hasRoot(v: unknown): v is string {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim().length > 0;
}

try {
  const info = await getGitHubRepoInfo(projectRoot);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('getGitHubRepoInfo')) {
    console.error('projectRoot missing; cannot run gh repo view.');
    return null;
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getGitHubRepoInfo(undefined) or '' — typically from the repoInfo wrapper when projectRoot resolution failed; also when passing an empty root straight from config.

Common situations: Scripts run with an unset project-root flag; monorepo tooling pointing at a root that resolved to empty string; tests that forgot to create/point to a repo fixture.

Understand the failure class

Background: Missing required parameter errors: what 'X is required' and 'the required X param is missing' mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

• projectRoot is required for getGitHubRepoInfo
• projectRoot is required for isGitRepository
• projectRoot is required for getCurrentBranch
• projectRoot is required for getLocalBranches
• projectRoot is required for getRemoteBranches

AI-assisted analysis of eyaltoledano/claude-task-master@c0c98d367c (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e146380d852e2e25. Report an issue: GitHub.