iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI · error · CliException

invalid_value

invalid_value

Error message

Unknown mode: {mode}. Available: text, annotated, outline, stats, issues, html, svg, screenshot, forms

What it means

JSON-output final guard for the mode switch: the lowercased mode matched none of stats/outline/text/annotated/issues/forms (html/svg/screenshot/pdf are handled in earlier branches before this switch). The thrown message lists the available modes (note: the message text omits 'pdf' but ValidValues includes it — a minor inconsistency). invalid_value guides the caller to a valid mode string.

Source

Thrown at src/officecli/CommandBuilder.View.cs:658

                    if (handler is OfficeCli.Handlers.WordHandler wordFormsHandler)
                        Console.WriteLine(OutputFormatter.WrapEnvelope(wordFormsHandler.ViewAsFormsJson().ToJsonString(OutputFormatter.PublicJsonOptions)));
                    else if (handler is OfficeCli.Core.Plugins.FormatHandlerProxy formsProxy)
                    {
                        var formsJson = formsProxy.ViewAsFormsJson();
                        if (formsJson is null)
                            throw new OfficeCli.Core.CliException($"Forms view is not supported by the format-handler plugin for {file.Extension}.")
                            { Code = "unsupported_type" };
                        Console.WriteLine(OutputFormatter.WrapEnvelope(formsJson.ToJsonString(OutputFormatter.PublicJsonOptions)));
                    }
                    else
                        throw new OfficeCli.Core.CliException("Forms view is only supported for .docx files.")
                        {
                            Code = "unsupported_type",
                            ValidValues = ["text", "annotated", "outline", "stats", "issues", "html", "svg", "screenshot", "pdf", "forms"]
                        };
                }
                else
                    throw new OfficeCli.Core.CliException($"Unknown mode: {mode}. Available: text, annotated, outline, stats, issues, html, svg, screenshot, forms")
                    {
                        Code = "invalid_value",
                        ValidValues = ["text", "annotated", "outline", "stats", "issues", "html", "svg", "screenshot", "pdf", "forms"]
                    };
            }
            else
            {
                var output = mode.ToLowerInvariant() switch
                {
                    "text" or "t" => handler.ViewAsText(start, end, maxLines, cols, clipArg),
                    "annotated" or "a" => handler.ViewAsAnnotated(start, end, maxLines, cols),
                    "outline" or "o" => handler.ViewAsOutline(),
                    "stats" or "s" => withPagesValue.HasValue
                        ? $"Pages: {withPagesValue}\n" + handler.ViewAsStats()
                        : handler.ViewAsStats(),
                    "issues" or "i" => OutputFormatter.FormatIssues(handler.ViewAsIssues(issueType, limit), OutputFormat.Text),
                    "forms" or "f" => handler switch
                    {

View on GitHub (pinned to 1ced45e900)

Solutions

1. Use one of: text, annotated, outline, stats, issues, html, svg, screenshot, forms, pdf
2. Check for typos and unexpanded shell variables in --mode
3. Use the documented single-letter alias where supported (t, a, o, s, i, f, g)

Example fix

// before
officecli view --mode stat --json doc.docx   // typo
// after
officecli view --mode stats --json doc.docx

// Validate mode against the known set before invoking under --json.
static readonly HashSet<string> ValidModes = new(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
{ "text","annotated","outline","stats","issues","html","svg","screenshot","forms","pdf",
  "t","a","o","s","i","f","g" };
if (!ValidModes.Contains(mode))
{
    // reject and prompt for a valid mode
}

bool IsValidMode(string mode) =>
    mode.ToLowerInvariant() is "text" or "t" or "annotated" or "a" or "outline" or "o"
    or "stats" or "s" or "issues" or "i" or "html" or "svg" or "g"
    or "screenshot" or "forms" or "f" or "pdf";

try
{
    // invoke view --mode X --json file
}
catch (OfficeCli.Core.CliException ex) when (ex.Code == "invalid_value")
{
    // mode was unrecognized; use a value from ex.ValidValues
}

When it happens

Trigger: `view --mode bogus --json doc.docx` — any unrecognized mode token under --json that wasn't intercepted by the earlier html/svg/screenshot/pdf branches. Also a mode with stray whitespace/case that survived ToLowerInvariant but isn't a recognized alias.

Common situations: Typo in --mode; using a mode name from a different tool version; shell expansion producing an unexpected token; abbreviations that aren't registered aliases (only single-letter aliases like t/a/o/s/i/f/g are accepted).

Related errors

• Batch input must be a JSON array. Got: {rootKind.ToString().
• batch item[{ri}]: unknown field(s) {string.Join(", ", unknow
• batch item[{ni}] is null. Each entry must be a JSON object (
• invalid_value
• invalid_value

AI-assisted analysis of iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI@1ced45e900 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84d932c0a8c5e805. Report an issue: GitHub.