github/github-mcp-server · error

%s must be a positive integer: %w

Error message

%s must be a positive integer: %w

What it means

Raised by intFromEntry (pkg/github/projects_batch.go:476) when issue_number exists but fails validatePositiveInt64: it is not a number (string "42", bool, null, array), it is fractional (2.5), or it is zero/negative. The first failure is wrapped as 'issue_number must be a positive integer: <cause>' inside the combined 'must all be provided together' error, and the item is rejected as 'invalid_item_ref'.

Source

Thrown at pkg/github/projects_batch.go:476

	v, ok := entry[key]
	if !ok {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("missing %s", key)
	}
	s, ok := v.(string)
	if !ok || s == "" {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s must be a non-empty string", key)
	}
	return s, nil
}

func intFromEntry(entry map[string]any, key string) (int, error) {
	v, ok := entry[key]
	if !ok {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("missing %s", key)
	}
	n, err := validatePositiveInt64(v)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("%s must be a positive integer: %w", key, err)
	}
	if n > math.MaxInt32 {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("%s exceeds the GraphQL Int maximum of %d", key, int64(math.MaxInt32))
	}
	return int(n), nil
}

func validatePositiveInt64(value any) (int64, error) {
	n, err := validateAndConvertToInt64(value)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, err
	}
	if n <= 0 {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("value must be greater than zero (got %d)", n)
	}
	return n, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0ea1f775a7)

Solutions

1. Send issue_number as an unquoted positive integer (1 or greater)
2. Parse source strings to int before building the item — never forward raw strings
3. Reject 0/negative/fractional placeholders at ingestion
4. Confirm you did not accidentally put an item database ID or project number in issue_number

Example fix

// before
{"item_owner": "octo", "item_repo": "repo", "issue_number": "42"}
// after
{"item_owner": "octo", "item_repo": "repo", "issue_number": 42}

if v, ok := entry["issue_number"]; ok {
	f, isNum := v.(float64)
	if !isNum || f != float64(int64(f)) || int64(f) <= 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("issue_number must be a positive integer (got %v)", v)
	}
}

func isPositiveJSONInt(v any) bool { f, ok := v.(float64); return ok && f == float64(int64(f)) && int64(f) > 0 }

When it happens

Trigger: {"issue_number": "42"} quoted; {"issue_number": 2.5}; {"issue_number": 0}; {"issue_number": -1}; {"issue_number": null}; {"issue_number": true}. All fail because validateAndConvertToInt64 only accepts integral float64/int64/int values greater than zero.

Common situations: Issue numbers quoted when exported from CSV/JSON files; a zero-value default from a struct; parsing an issue URL but capturing an empty string coerced to 0; upstream data quality issues with negative or fractional placeholders.

Related errors

• %s must be a non-empty string
• node_id must be a non-empty string
• item_id: %w
• item_owner, item_repo, and issue_number must all be provided
• missing %s

AI-assisted analysis of github/github-mcp-server@0ea1f775a7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5ab26b78380176a7. Report an issue: GitHub.