jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

At least one username is required

Error message

At least one username is required

What it means

parseCommaSeparatedUsernames (used by batch commands like list-batch-add via the `usernames` option) throws ArgumentError when the raw username string is empty after trimming — i.e. no value was supplied at all. The batch operation cannot run without at least one target username, and the optional `example` parameter is attached to the error as usage help.

Source

Thrown at clis/twitter/list-batch-utils.js:10

import { ArgumentError, AuthRequiredError } from '@jackwener/opencli/errors';

const USERNAME_RE = /^[A-Za-z0-9_]{1,15}$/;
const DEFAULT_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 5;
const MAX_INTERVAL_SECONDS = 600;

export function parseCommaSeparatedUsernames(rawValue, example) {
    const raw = String(rawValue || '').trim();
    if (!raw) {
        throw new ArgumentError('At least one username is required', example);
    }

    const values = raw
        .split(',')
        .map((part) => part.trim().replace(/^@/, ''))
        .filter(Boolean);

    if (values.length === 0) {
        throw new ArgumentError('At least one username is required', example);
    }

    const seen = new Set();
    const usernames = [];
    for (const username of values) {
        if (!USERNAME_RE.test(username)) {
            throw new ArgumentError(`Invalid Twitter/X username: ${JSON.stringify(username)}`, example);
        }
        const key = username.toLowerCase();

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Pass at least one username: --usernames alice (leading @ is allowed and stripped).
2. If using a shell variable, check it is non-empty before invoking: [ -n "$USERS" ] || exit 1.
3. Use comma-separation for multiple: --usernames "alice,bob,charlie".

Example fix

// before
opencli twitter list-batch-add 123456789 --usernames "$USERS"   # USERS unset
ArgumentError: At least one username is required
// after
USERS="alice,bob"
opencli twitter list-batch-add 123456789 --usernames "$USERS"

if (!process.env.USERS || !process.env.USERS.trim()) {
  throw new Error('USERS is empty; supply --usernames "alice,bob"');
}

try {
  await runBatch(argv);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof ArgumentError && /At least one username is required/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error('Usage: opencli twitter list-batch-add <listId> --usernames "alice,bob"');
    process.exitCode = 2;
    return;
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a batch command with the usernames option omitted, set to an empty string, or whitespace-only (e.g. --usernames "" or --usernames " "), so String(rawValue||'').trim() yields ''.

Common situations: Forgetting the --usernames flag in a script; a shell variable holding the list is empty/unset ($USERS expands to nothing); a config file passes an empty field; whitespace-only input from a spreadsheet copy.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• facebook marketplace-inbox --limit must be a positive intege
• Argument "content" is required.
• Jike search query cannot be empty
• --limit must be a positive integer
• --limit must be an integer between 1 and ${MAX_LIMIT}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f7ac72e150c0840d. Report an issue: GitHub.