gastownhall/beads · error

closed does not support %s operator

Error message

closed does not support %s operator

What it means

This error is thrown by the query evaluator when a query compares the `closed` field with an operator other than `<` or `<=` (e.g. `closed > ...`, `closed = ...`). The `closed` timestamp only maps to ClosedBefore/ClosedAfter-style filters via less-than comparisons, so any other operator is rejected. It is a query-syntax validation error, not a runtime failure.

Source

Thrown at internal/query/evaluator.go:401

}

func (e *Evaluator) applyClosedFilter(comp *ComparisonNode, filter *types.IssueFilter) error {
	t, err := e.parseTimeValue(comp)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid closed time: %w", err)
	}
	switch comp.Op {
	case OpGreater:
		filter.ClosedAfter = &t
	case OpGreaterEq:
		filter.ClosedAfter = &t
	case OpLess:
		filter.ClosedBefore = &t
	case OpLessEq:
		endOfDay := time.Date(t.Year(), t.Month(), t.Day(), 23, 59, 59, 999999999, t.Location())
		filter.ClosedBefore = &endOfDay
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("closed does not support %s operator", comp.Op.String())
	}
	return nil
}

func (e *Evaluator) applyStartedFilter(comp *ComparisonNode, filter *types.IssueFilter) error {
	t, err := e.parseTimeValue(comp)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid started time: %w", err)
	}
	switch comp.Op {
	case OpGreater:
		filter.StartedAfter = &t
	case OpGreaterEq:
		filter.StartedAfter = &t
	case OpLess:
		filter.StartedBefore = &t
	case OpLessEq:
		endOfDay := time.Date(t.Year(), t.Month(), t.Day(), 23, 59, 59, 999999999, t.Location())

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Rewrite the comparison to use `<` or `<=` on `closed` (e.g. `closed <= 2024-06-01` means closed before end of that day).
2. To express 'closed after a date', use the appropriate supported filter or combine with a different field if the query language offers closed-after syntax only through >= on other time fields — check supported operators for `closed`.
3. Validate the query with the query parser/list command before embedding it in scripts to get this error up front.

Example fix

// before (query)
bd list 'closed = 2024-06-01'
// after (query)
bd list 'closed <= 2024-06-01'

func validateClosedOp(op string) error {
	if op != "<" && op != "<=" {
		return fmt.Errorf("closed supports only < and <=, got %q", op)
	}
	return nil
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a query like `closed = 2024-01-01`, `closed >= yesterday`, or `closed != today` — any ComparisonNode on field "closed" whose Op is not OpLess or OpLessEq reaches the default branch of applyClosedFilter.

Common situations: Users writing `closed = <date>` expecting exact-day equality instead of `closed <= <date>`; hand-editing saved queries; porting SQL habits (`closed > x`) into the bd query language.

Related errors

• started does not support %s operator
• id only supports = operator
• spec only supports = operator
• parent only supports = operator
• %s only supports = operator

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3656c22d0f6a171. Report an issue: GitHub.