gatsbyjs/gatsby · error · Error

You must pass an object into setPluginStatus. What was passe

Error message

You must pass an object into setPluginStatus. What was passed in was ${JSON.stringify(action.payload, null, 4)}

What it means

The status reducer's SET_PLUGIN_STATUS case validates that action.payload is an object (via lodash _.isObject) before merging it into state.plugins[plugin.name]. It throws with a JSON dump of the bad payload if a non-object (string, number, array, null, etc.) is passed, because _.merge of a non-object would corrupt or overwrite plugin status incorrectly.

Source

Thrown at packages/gatsby/src/redux/reducers/status.ts:38

        cdnObfuscatedPrefix: state.cdnObfuscatedPrefix ?? ``,
      }
    case `INIT`: {
      if (!state.cdnObfuscatedPrefix) {
        state.cdnObfuscatedPrefix = uuid.v4()
      }
      return state
    }
    case `UPDATE_PLUGINS_HASH`:
      return {
        ...state,
        PLUGINS_HASH: action.payload,
      }
    case `SET_PLUGIN_STATUS`:
      if (!action.plugin || !action.plugin?.name) {
        throw new Error(`You can't set plugin status without a plugin`)
      }
      if (!_.isObject(action.payload)) {
        throw new Error(
          `You must pass an object into setPluginStatus. What was passed in was ${JSON.stringify(
            action.payload,
            null,
            4
          )}`
        )
      }
      return {
        ...state,
        plugins: {
          ...state.plugins,
          [action.plugin.name]: _.merge(
            {},
            state.plugins[action.plugin.name],
            action.payload
          ),
        },
      }

View on GitHub (pinned to 8b06340921)

Solutions

1. Pass a plain object: setPluginStatus({ key: value }).
2. If you serialized status to JSON, JSON.parse it before passing.
3. Wrap arrays/scalars in an object: setPluginStatus({ items: arr }).

Example fix

// before
actions.setPluginStatus('synced')
// after
actions.setPluginStatus({ lastSync: new Date().toISOString() })

function safeSetPluginStatus(actions, payload) {
  if (payload === null || typeof payload !== 'object' || Array.isArray(payload)) {
    throw new TypeError('setPluginStatus payload must be a plain object')
  }
  return actions.setPluginStatus(payload)
}

function isPlainObject(x) {
  return !!x && typeof x === 'object' && !Array.isArray(x)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling setPluginStatus with a primitive, string, array, or null/undefined payload. Note _.isObject returns true for arrays and functions too, so practically this fires for strings, numbers, booleans, and null.

Common situations: Passing a scalar where an object was intended (e.g. setPluginStatus('done') instead of setPluginStatus({ state: 'done' })); serializing status to a JSON string and forgetting to parse it; passing a configuration value directly.

Related errors

• An ID must be provided when creating or setting job
• An ID must be provided when ending a job
• You can't set plugin status without a plugin
• generateImageSource must be a function
• The plugin "${_.get(action, `plugin.name`, `anonymous`)}" tr

AI-assisted analysis of gatsbyjs/gatsby@8b06340921 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/36ad5864452882a4. Report an issue: GitHub.