gastownhall/beads · error

parsing batch input: %w

Error message

parsing batch input: %w

What it means

After obtaining the batch reader (file or stdin), the script is parsed by parseBatchScript. Any syntax or semantic error in the batch script is wrapped as 'parsing batch input: %w', so the user sees the parser's specific complaint (bad line, unknown command, malformed arguments) alongside the batch context.

Source

Thrown at cmd/bd/batch.go:121

		filePath, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("file")
		dryRun, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("dry-run")
		commitMsg, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("message")

		var reader io.Reader
		if filePath != "" {
			f, err := os.Open(filePath) // #nosec G304 -- user-supplied batch file
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("open batch file: %w", err)
			}
			defer f.Close()
			reader = f
		} else {
			reader = cmd.InOrStdin()
		}

		ops, err := parseBatchScript(reader)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("parsing batch input: %w", err)
		}

		if dryRun {
			// In dry-run mode, just echo what would run. This is helpful for
			// shell script authors verifying their scripts before running.
			for _, op := range ops {
				fmt.Fprintf(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "line %d: %s\n", op.line, op.raw)
			}
			if jsonOutput {
				if err := outputJSON(map[string]interface{}{
					"dry_run":    true,
					"operations": len(ops),
				}); err != nil {
					return err
				}
			} else {
				fmt.Fprintf(cmd.OutOrStdout(), "%d operations parsed (dry-run, nothing executed)\n", len(ops))
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 71377f2769)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped parser error to find the offending line and fix the batch syntax
2. Validate the script with 'bd batch --dry-run --file <file>' before applying
3. Re-generate the batch file ensuring one well-formed operation per line
4. Check encoding artifacts (CRLF, BOM) — convert to plain LF UTF-8

Example fix

// before
crate issue "Fix bug"          # typo'd keyword
// after
bd batch --dry-run --file ops.txt   # validate first
create issue "Fix bug" -p 1

// validate before applying
if err := validateBatchScript(contents); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("invalid batch script: %w", err)
}

ops, err := parseBatchScript(reader)
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("parsing batch input: %w\nFix the script or validate with 'bd batch --dry-run'", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: parseBatchScript(reader) returns an error — malformed batch line syntax, unsupported operation keyword, wrong number of arguments for an operation, or invalid characters/encoding in the batch file/stdin.

Common situations: Hand-written batch scripts with syntax mistakes; batch file produced by another tool with wrong quoting; CRLF line endings or BOM confusing the parser; piping output of a command that emitted non-batch text; empty or truncated file.

Related errors

• line %d: %w
• dolt version output is unparseable
• no database connection available (%s)
• open batch file: %w
• line %d (%s): %w

AI-assisted analysis of gastownhall/beads@71377f2769 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c3a899773bd8358d. Report an issue: GitHub.