jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Instagram private publish failed to ${stage}

Error message

Instagram private publish failed to ${stage}

What it means

Generic wrapper for failures of the macOS `swift` helper script used by the private publish pipeline (reading video metadata, generating cover images, trimming story video). When the spawned swift process errors or exits non-zero, this error is thrown with the process output as detail.

Source

Thrown at clis/instagram/_shared/private-publish.js:412

    }
    return {
        ...readImageAsset(outputPath),
        cleanupPath: outputPath,
    };
}
function runSwiftJsonScript(script, args, stage) {
    const scriptPath = path.join(os.tmpdir(), `opencli-instagram-${crypto.randomUUID()}.swift`);
    fs.writeFileSync(scriptPath, script);
    try {
        const result = spawnSync('swift', [scriptPath, ...args], {
            encoding: 'utf8',
        });
        if (result.error || result.status !== 0) {
            const detail = [result.error?.message, result.stderr, result.stdout]
                .map((value) => String(value || '').trim())
                .filter(Boolean)
                .join(' ');
            throw new CommandExecutionError(`Instagram private publish failed to ${stage}`, detail || 'swift helper failed');
        }
        return JSON.parse(String(result.stdout || '{}'));
    }
    catch (error) {
        if (error instanceof CommandExecutionError)
            throw error;
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Instagram private publish failed to ${stage}`, error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
    }
    finally {
        fs.rmSync(scriptPath, { force: true });
    }
}
function readVideoMetadata(filePath) {
    if (process.platform !== 'darwin') {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`Instagram private mixed-media publish does not support reading video metadata on ${process.platform}`, 'Use macOS for private mixed-media publishing, or rely on the UI fallback');
    }
    const metadata = runSwiftJsonScript(`
import AVFoundation

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

  1. Read the detail (swift stderr/stdout) for the exact failure
  2. Install/repair the Xcode command line tools so `swift` runs (`xcode-select --install`)
  3. Verify the input video path exists and is a playable mp4/mov
  4. Pre-trim or pre-generate covers with ffmpeg and skip the swift helper step

Example fix

// before
await publish({ media: 'clip.mp4' }); // swift helper fails
// after
// $ xcode-select --install   # ensure swift toolchain
// or pre-process: $ ffmpeg -i clip.mp4 -t 15 clip-trimmed.mp4
await publish({ media: 'clip-trimmed.mp4' });
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

const probe = spawnSync('swift', ['--version']);
if (probe.error || probe.status !== 0) throw new Error('swift toolchain unavailable');
if (!fs.existsSync(videoPath)) throw new Error(`missing video: ${videoPath}`);

Try / catch

try {
  await publish(cfg);
} catch (e) {
  if (/private publish failed to .+/.test(e.message)) {
    // inspect e.detail for swift stderr; install CLT or pre-process with ffmpeg
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: runSwiftJsonScript spawns a swift helper and result.error is set or result.status !== 0, during metadata extraction, cover image generation, or story video trimming.

Common situations: macOS host without a working swift toolchain (no Xcode command line tools), missing input video file, unsupported codec, timeout/OOM on large videos.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b93fc8eea1486bac. Report an issue: GitHub.