jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

archive search request failed: ${error?.message || error}

Error message

archive search request failed: ${error?.message || error}

What it means

This CommandExecutionError wraps any network-level failure of the fetch to archive.org's advancedsearch endpoint during `archive search`. It fires when fetch itself rejects (DNS failure, connection refused/reset, TLS error, timeout, abort) — as opposed to a non-2xx HTTP status, which produces a separate 'archive search failed: HTTP <status>' error. The original error message is interpolated into the message.

Source

Thrown at clis/archive/search.js:73

        const url = new URL('https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php');
        url.searchParams.set('q', fullQuery);
        url.searchParams.set('output', 'json');
        url.searchParams.set('rows', String(limit));
        url.searchParams.set('sort[]', `${sort} desc`);
        for (const fl of ['identifier', 'title', 'creator', 'date', 'mediatype', 'downloads']) {
            url.searchParams.append('fl[]', fl);
        }

        let resp;
        try {
            resp = await fetch(url, {
                headers: {
                    'Accept': 'application/json',
                    'User-Agent': 'opencli/1.0 (+https://github.com/jackwener/opencli)',
                },
            });
        } catch (error) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`archive search request failed: ${error?.message || error}`);
        }
        if (!resp.ok) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`archive search failed: HTTP ${resp.status}`);
        }
        let data;
        try {
            data = await resp.json();
        } catch (error) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`archive search returned malformed JSON: ${error?.message || error}`);
        }

        const docs = data?.response?.docs;
        if (!Array.isArray(docs)) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('archive search returned malformed payload: response.docs must be an array');
        }
        if (docs.length === 0) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('archive search', `No items match "${query}" on archive.org.`);
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Check basic connectivity (`curl -I https://archive.org`) and DNS resolution
2. Configure proxy environment variables (HTTPS_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY) if behind a corporate proxy
3. Retry after a short backoff — transient network blips and archive.org incidents resolve themselves
4. Inspect the interpolated cause in the message (e.g. 'getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND') and fix the specific network issue it names

Example fix

// before
const rows = await run(['archive', 'search', 'jazz']);
// after
let rows;
try {
    rows = await run(['archive', 'search', 'jazz']);
} catch (err) {
    if (/request failed/.test(String(err?.message))) {
        rows = await run(['archive', 'search', 'jazz']); // retry once after transient network failure
    } else {
        throw err;
    }
}

// probe connectivity before batch runs
const ok = await fetch('https://archive.org/', { method: 'HEAD' }).then(r => r.ok).catch(() => false);
if (!ok) throw new Error('archive.org unreachable; check network/proxy');

null

try {
    rows = await run(['archive', 'search', query]);
} catch (err) {
    if (err instanceof CommandExecutionError && err.message.includes('request failed')) {
        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000));
        rows = await run(['archive', 'search', query]); // single retry for transient network errors
    } else { throw err; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `opencli archive search ...` while offline or with DNS failures; a proxy/firewall blocking archive.org; TLS interception breaking the handshake; connection reset or socket timeout mid-request.

Common situations: Corporate networks requiring a proxy that is not configured (HTTPS_PROXY); VPN drops mid-command; archive.org outage or rate-limiting at the TCP level; IPv6 misresolution in containers.

Related errors

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AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd71cb334b4716ad. Report an issue: GitHub.