jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

Invalid Lobsters short_id: ${args.id}

Error message

Invalid Lobsters short_id: ${args.id}

What it means

Thrown at clis/lobsters/read.js:100 before any HTTP call when the positional id argument doesn't match /^[a-z0-9]+$/ — the format of Lobsters short ids (e.g. '6cmh6h'). ArgumentError means the input was malformed so fetching would be pointless; the hint suggests a lowercase alphanumeric id.

Source

Thrown at clis/lobsters/read.js:100

    site: 'lobsters',
    name: 'read',
    access: 'read',
    description: 'Read a Lobste.rs story and its comment tree',
    domain: 'lobste.rs',
    strategy: Strategy.PUBLIC,
    browser: false,
    args: [
        { name: 'id', required: true, positional: true, help: 'Lobste.rs short_id (e.g. 6cmh6h)' },
        { name: 'limit', type: 'int', default: 25, help: 'Max top-level comments' },
        { name: 'depth', type: 'int', default: 2, help: 'Max reply depth (1=no replies, 2=one level of replies, etc.)' },
        { name: 'replies', type: 'int', default: 5, help: 'Max replies shown per comment at each level' },
        { name: 'max-length', type: 'int', default: 2000, help: 'Max characters per comment body (min 100)' },
    ],
    columns: ['type', 'author', 'score', 'text'],
    func: async (args) => {
        const shortId = String(args.id || '').trim();
        if (!/^[a-z0-9]+$/.test(shortId)) {
            throw new ArgumentError(`Invalid Lobsters short_id: ${args.id}`, 'Pass a lowercase alphanumeric id like 6cmh6h');
        }
        const limit = requirePositiveInt(args.limit ?? 25, 'lobsters read --limit');
        const maxDepth = requirePositiveInt(args.depth ?? 2, 'lobsters read --depth');
        const maxReplies = requirePositiveInt(args.replies ?? 5, 'lobsters read --replies');
        const maxLength = requireMinInt(args['max-length'] ?? 2000, 100, 'lobsters read --max-length');

        const story = await fetchStory(shortId);
        if (!story || !story.short_id) {
            throw new EmptyResultError(`lobsters/${shortId}`, 'Story not found');
        }

        const results = [];

        // Story header — title, body (description_plain, often empty for link posts), then external url.
        const storyBodyRaw = (story.description_plain || htmlToText(story.description || '')).trim();
        const storyBody = storyBodyRaw.length > maxLength
            ? storyBodyRaw.slice(0, maxLength) + '\n... [truncated]'
            : storyBodyRaw;

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Extract just the slug: for https://lobste.rs/s/6cmh6h use 6cmh6h
2. Lowercase the id before passing (ids are lowercase alphanumeric only)
3. Trim whitespace/quotes from the value
4. Pre-validate in scripts: /^[a-z0-9]+$/.test(id) before invoking

Example fix

// before
const id = 'https://lobste.rs/s/6cmh6h';
// after
const id = 'https://lobste.rs/s/6cmh6h'.split('/s/')[1] || '';
// => '6cmh6h'

const shortId = String(rawId || '').trim().toLowerCase();
if (!/^[a-z0-9]+$/.test(shortId)) {
  throw new Error(`Invalid Lobsters short_id: ${rawId}`);
}

function isValidLobstersId(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && /^[a-z0-9]+$/.test(v.trim());
}

try {
  return await readLobstersStory(rawId);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.startsWith('Invalid Lobsters short_id')) {
    const m = String(rawId).match(/\/s\/([a-z0-9]+)/i);
    if (m) return readLobstersStory(m[1].toLowerCase());
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `lobsters read 'https://lobste.rs/s/6cmh6h'` (full URL instead of id), uppercase ids like '6CMH6H', ids containing punctuation, empty string, or whitespace-only input.

Common situations: Pasting the full story URL from a browser instead of the slug; copying an id from an HN-style link with extra characters; quoting issues in shells leaving trailing spaces; using an uppercase variant of a valid id.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• ${label} must be a positive integer
• ${label} must be an integer >= ${min}
• INVALID_ARGUMENT
• INVALID_ARGUMENT
• Collection name cannot be empty

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7763f2c44873aef5. Report an issue: GitHub.