jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Failed to fetch playlist data

Error message

Failed to fetch playlist data

What it means

CommandExecutionError thrown when the youtube playlist scrape's page.evaluate returns nothing usable — data is null, undefined, or not an object — meaning the in-page extraction script failed to produce its result object rather than returning a structured error. The library throws it instead of crashing on undefined property access.

Source

Thrown at clis/youtube/playlist.js:86

        let videos = extractVideos(listContents);

        let contItem = listContents[listContents.length - 1];
        while (videos.length < limit && contItem?.continuationItemRenderer) {
          const token = contItem.continuationItemRenderer?.continuationEndpoint?.continuationCommand?.token;
          if (!token) break;
          const contData = await fetchBrowse(apiKey, { context, continuation: token });
          if (contData.error) break;
          const newItems = contData.onResponseReceivedActions?.[0]?.appendContinuationItemsAction?.continuationItems || [];
          if (!newItems.length) break;
          videos = videos.concat(extractVideos(newItems));
          contItem = newItems[newItems.length - 1];
        }

        return { title, channelName, stats, videos: videos.slice(0, limit) };
      })()
    `);
        if (!data || typeof data !== 'object') {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('Failed to fetch playlist data');
        }
        if (data.error) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(String(data.error));
        }
        if (!data.videos?.length) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('youtube playlist');
        }
        const statsStr = (data.stats || []).join(' | ');
        process.stderr.write(`${data.title}  [${data.channelName}]  ${statsStr}\n`);
        return data.videos;
    },
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

  1. Verify the playlist URL/ID is valid, public, and still exists
  2. Re-run — transient page-load failures are common
  3. Log into YouTube in the profile to bypass consent walls
  4. Update the CLI if YouTube's page structure changed

Example fix

// before
opencli youtube playlist PL_BAD_ID  // null data
// after
opencli youtube playlist PL_VALID_PUBLIC_ID
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// ensure the playlist exists/public before scraping
const res = await fetch(`https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=${id}`, { method: 'HEAD' });
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Playlist ${id} unreachable (HTTP ${res.status})`);

Type guard

const isScrapeResult = (d) => d !== null && typeof d === 'object' && !Array.isArray(d);

Try / catch

try {
  const videos = await run('youtube playlist', [id]);
} catch (e) {
  if (/Failed to fetch playlist data/i.test(e.message)) {
    console.error('Scrape returned no data — verify the playlist ID and login state');
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: page.evaluate returns null/undefined/non-object: the playlist page failed to load, ytInitialData was absent, the script threw before returning and the harness swallowed it, or navigation hit a bot-check/consent page.

Common situations: Invalid or deleted playlist ID, private playlist, YouTube consent/cookie wall in a fresh profile, anti-bot interstitial, or network failure during page load.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/43b4059ff7a8524a. Report an issue: GitHub.