jackwener/OpenCLI · warning · EmptyResultError

Chess.com has games archives for

Error message

Chess.com has games archives for ${username} but no games in the most recent ${MAX_ARCHIVE_FETCHES} months

What it means

The command walks at most MAX_ARCHIVE_FETCHES (6) most recent monthly archives; if archives exist but no games were collected after scanning those months, it throws EmptyResultError. This prevents silently returning zero rows when the player simply hasn't played recently.

Solutions

If you need older games, fetch archive months beyond the 6-month window directly from https://api.chess.com/pub/player/{u}/games/{yyyy}/{mm}
Confirm the player has actually played recently on chess.com
Catch EmptyResultError and treat as 'no recent games' rather than an error

Example fix

// before
await gamesCommand(username, { limit: 10 }); // throws when player inactive 7+ months
// after
try { await gamesCommand(username, { limit: 10 }); }
catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'EmptyResultError') return []; // player has no recent games
  throw e;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: fallback

Validate before calling

// detect likely dormancy before the call by checking player's last online date
const player = await fetch(`https://api.chess.com/pub/player/${encodeURIComponent(username)}`).then(r => r.json());
// if player.last_online is older than ~6 months, expect no recent games

Try / catch

try {
  const rows = await gamesCmd(username, { limit });
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'EmptyResultError' && /no games in the most recent/.test(e.message)) return fetchOlderGamesManually(username) ?? [];
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Check player.last_online before expecting recent games
For players inactive >6 months, fetch older monthly archives directly instead of relying on the 6-month window
Distinguish the two EmptyResultError messages (no archives at all vs no recent games) in your handling code

When it happens

Trigger: A player has archives (older months) but zero games in their 6 most recent archive months — e.g. they stopped playing 7+ months ago, or recent months' archives contain only empty game lists.

Common situations: Inactive/dormant accounts; players who only played a few games long ago; requesting games for someone who recently created a new account with games only in old imported archives.

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/54239ac901ab6f1c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at clis/chess/games.js:61

            throw new EmptyResultError(`Chess.com has no game archives for ${username}`);
        }
        const rows = [];
        for (let i = 0; i < archives.length && i < MAX_ARCHIVE_FETCHES && rows.length < limit; i++) {
            if (typeof archives[i] !== 'string' || !archives[i].startsWith('https://api.chess.com/pub/player/')) {
                throw new CommandExecutionError('Chess.com archives payload contains an unexpected archive URL');
            }
            const monthly = await chessApi(archives[i]);
            if (!Array.isArray(monthly.games)) {
                throw new CommandExecutionError('Chess.com monthly archive payload is missing games array');
            }
            const games = monthly.games.slice().reverse();
            for (const g of games) {
                rows.push(mapGameRow(g, username));
                if (rows.length >= limit) break;
            }
        }
        if (rows.length === 0) {
            throw new EmptyResultError(`Chess.com has games archives for ${username} but no games in the most recent ${MAX_ARCHIVE_FETCHES} months`);
        }
        return rows.slice(0, limit);
    },
});

export const __test__ = { parseLimit };

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