What causes "Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed data" in jackwener/OpenCLI?

Retry the command; if persistent, the API contract may have changed — update the library

jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed data

Error message

Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed data

What it means

CommandExecutionError thrown by requireReplies when the `data` field inside a successful (code===0) reply API envelope is not a plain object. Bilibili's /x/v2/reply/main or /x/v2/reply/reply should return an object containing a `replies` key; anything else indicates a contract violation.

Source

Thrown at clis/bilibili/comments.js:52

}

function requireOkPayload(payload, label) {
    if (!payload || typeof payload !== 'object' || Array.isArray(payload) || !Object.hasOwn(payload, 'code')) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API returned a malformed payload`);
    }
    if (payload.code !== 0) {
        const message = payload.message ?? 'unknown error';
        if (isAuthLikeBilibiliError(payload.code, message)) {
            throw new AuthRequiredError('bilibili.com', `Bilibili ${label} API requires login or permission: ${message} (${payload.code})`);
        }
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API failed: ${message} (${payload.code})`);
    }
    return payload.data;
}

function requireReplies(data, label) {
    if (!data || typeof data !== 'object' || Array.isArray(data)) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed data`);
    }
    if (!Object.hasOwn(data, 'replies')) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API did not return replies`);
    }
    if (data.replies === null) {
        return [];
    }
    if (!Array.isArray(data.replies)) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed replies`);
    }
    return data.replies;
}

function requireTopReplies(data, label) {
    if (!data || typeof data !== 'object' || Array.isArray(data)) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Bilibili ${label} API returned malformed data`);
    }
    if (!Object.hasOwn(data, 'top_replies')) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Retry the command; if persistent, the API contract may have changed — update the library
Log the raw JSON body to confirm the shape
Check the library repo for issues about reply/main response changes

Example fix

null

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

null

Type guard

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

Try / catch

try { const rows = await run(['bilibili','comments',bvid]); } catch (e) { if (/returned malformed data/.test(e.message)) return retryWithBackoff(fn, 2); throw e; }

Prevention

Retry transient shape anomalies with backoff
Report persistent occurrences to the library maintainers with the raw response
Keep the library updated against Bilibili API changes

When it happens

Trigger: API returns code 0 but data is null, a string, an array, or missing — e.g. WBI signature accepted but response shape changed, or risk-control returns an empty success.

Common situations: Bilibili silently changing the reply API response shape; regional API variants; middleware stripping or rewriting the response body.

Understand the failure class

Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd69ea1a4038ec35. Report an issue: GitHub.