jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

boss ${name} cannot be empty

Error message

boss ${name} cannot be empty

What it means

readRequiredString normalizes a raw option with String(raw ?? '').trim() and throws ArgumentError when the result is empty. It guards required identifiers (uid, jobId) so the library never builds API URLs with blank IDs. A missing, empty-string, or whitespace-only value triggers it.

Source

Thrown at clis/boss/utils.js:33

 */
export function requirePage(page) {
    if (!page)
        throw new CommandExecutionError('Browser page required');
}
export function readPositiveInteger(raw, name, fallback, max) {
    const value = raw === undefined || raw === null || raw === '' ? fallback : Number(raw);
    if (!Number.isInteger(value) || value < 1) {
        throw new ArgumentError(`boss ${name} must be a positive integer`);
    }
    if (max !== undefined && value > max) {
        throw new ArgumentError(`boss ${name} must be <= ${max}`);
    }
    return value;
}
export function readRequiredString(raw, name) {
    const value = String(raw ?? '').trim();
    if (!value) {
        throw new ArgumentError(`boss ${name} cannot be empty`);
    }
    return value;
}
/**
 * Navigate to BOSS chat page and wait for it to settle.
 * This establishes the cookie context needed for subsequent API calls.
 */
export async function navigateToChat(page, waitSeconds = 2) {
    await page.goto(CHAT_URL);
    await page.wait({ time: waitSeconds });
}
/**
 * Navigate to a custom BOSS page (for search/detail that use different pages).
 */
export async function navigateTo(page, url, waitSeconds = 1) {
    await page.goto(url);
    await page.wait({ time: waitSeconds });
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Supply the required --uid / --jobId value on the command line.
2. Check that the shell variable feeding the flag is actually set and non-blank.
3. Verify option parsing (e.g. commander/yargs config) marks the option required so it fails earlier with a clearer message.

Example fix

// before
cli friend-detail --uid "$UID"
// after
UID=abc123 cli friend-detail --uid "$UID"   # or guard: [ -n "$UID" ] || exit 1

function assertRequiredString(raw, name) {
  const v = String(raw ?? '').trim();
  if (!v) throw new Error(`${name} cannot be empty`);
  return v;
}
assertRequiredString(process.env.BOSS_UID, 'uid');

function isNonEmptyString(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim().length > 0;
}

try {
  await cli.friendDetail({ uid });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof ArgumentError && /cannot be empty/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error(`Missing required ${e.message.match(/boss (\w+)/)?.[1]}; pass it explicitly.`);
    process.exitCode = 2;
    return;
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running a command that requires --uid or --jobId but omitting the flag, passing --uid "" or --uid " ", or passing a value that is undefined/null after option parsing.

Common situations: Forgetting the flag in a script; an upstream variable that is empty or unset interpolated into the CLI invocation; shell quoting producing an empty argument (e.g. --uid "$UNSET_VAR").

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

• symbol is required
• bilibili comments limit must be an integer between 1 and ${M
• bilibili comments parent must be a positive integer rpid
• boss ${name} must be <= ${max}
• <username> is required

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/be65257827d27265. Report an issue: GitHub.