gastownhall/beads · error

line %d: unknown dep subcommand %q (want add|remove)

Error message

line %d: unknown dep subcommand %q (want add|remove)

What it means

In batch mode, `dep` only accepts `add`, `remove`, or `rm` as its subcommand. Any other second token (e.g. `dep list bd-1`) fails parsing of the entire script before any writes, with the offending subcommand quoted.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/batch.go:284

			op.cmd = "close"
			op.args = tokens[1:]
		case "update":
			op.cmd = "update"
			op.args = tokens[1:]
		case "create":
			op.cmd = "create"
			op.args = tokens[1:]
		case "dep":
			if len(tokens) < 2 {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("line %d: 'dep' requires a subcommand (add|remove)", lineNo)
			}
			switch tokens[1] {
			case "add":
				op.cmd = "dep.add"
			case "remove", "rm":
				op.cmd = "dep.remove"
			default:
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("line %d: unknown dep subcommand %q (want add|remove)", lineNo, tokens[1])
			}
			op.args = tokens[2:]
		default:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("line %d: unsupported batch command %q (supported: close, update, create, dep add, dep remove)", lineNo, tokens[0])
		}
		ops = append(ops, op)
	}
	if err := scanner.Err(); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return ops, nil
}

// tokenizeBatchLine splits a line into whitespace-separated tokens with
// support for double-quoted strings. Escape sequences inside quotes: \" and
// \\. Anything else after a backslash inside quotes is treated literally.
func tokenizeBatchLine(s string) ([]string, error) {
	var tokens []string

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Change the subcommand to `add`, `remove`, or `rm` on the reported line.
2. Move read-only dependency queries out of the batch script (use `bd dep <id>` separately).
3. Note `rm` is accepted as an alias for `remove`.
4. Validate with `bd batch --dry-run` before executing.

Example fix

// before (batch file)
dep remve bd-1 bd-2
// after
dep remove bd-1 bd-2

# Verify dep subcommands are only add/remove/rm:
awk '$1=="dep" && !(($2=="add")||($2=="remove")||($2=="rm")) { print "line " NR ": unknown dep subcommand: " $2 }' batch.txt

if err := runBdBatch(file); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "unknown dep subcommand") {
        return fmt.Errorf("fix the dep subcommand; nothing was written: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: A batch line like `dep list bd-1`, `dep show bd-1`, or a misspelled `dep remve bd-1 bd-2` passed to `bd batch`.

Common situations: Users trying to query dependencies inside batch scripts; typos of remove/rm; scripts mixing read commands with write commands.

Related errors

• line %d: 'dep' requires a subcommand (add|remove)
• line %d: %w
• line %d: unsupported batch command %q (supported: close, upd
• unterminated quoted string
• parsing batch input: %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/667675b93d570d5e. Report an issue: GitHub.