jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

${label} must be an exact https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profi

Error message

${label} must be an exact https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/ URL

What it means

requireLinkedInProfileUrl canonicalizes the supplied profile URL and rejects anything that is not an exact https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/ URL. The library enforces strict canonical profile URLs so later navigation, matching, and safety checks operate on a predictable target.

Source

Thrown at clis/linkedin/connect.js:77

        url.hash = '';
        url.search = '';
        if (!url.pathname.endsWith('/')) url.pathname += '/';
        return url.toString();
    }
    catch {
        return '';
    }
}

function requireStringArg(args, key, label = key) {
    const value = normalizeWhitespace(args[key]);
    if (!value) throw new ArgumentError(`${label} is required`);
    return value;
}

function requireLinkedInProfileUrl(value, label) {
    const url = canonicalizeLinkedInProfileUrl(value);
    if (!url) throw new ArgumentError(`${label} must be an exact https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/ URL`);
    return url;
}

function clampNote(note) {
    const value = normalizeWhitespace(note);
    if (value.length > 300) throw new ArgumentError('--note must be 300 characters or fewer for LinkedIn connection requests');
    return value;
}

function canonicalizeLinkedInInviteUrl(value) {
    try {
        const url = new URL(normalizeWhitespace(value), 'https://www.linkedin.com');
        if (url.protocol !== 'https:' || url.username || url.password || url.port || !isLinkedInHost(url.hostname)) return '';
        if (!/^\/preload\/custom-invite\/?$/i.test(url.pathname)) return '';
        url.hostname = 'www.linkedin.com';
        url.hash = '';
        if (!url.pathname.endsWith('/')) url.pathname += '/';
        return url.toString();

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Open the profile on desktop LinkedIn and copy the canonical URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/ with the trailing slash
2. Strip query strings, tracking params, and sub-paths from the URL
3. Replace http:// with https:// and remove any country subdomain or 'www.' variants if the canonicalizer rejects them
4. Verify the URL is a person profile (/in/), not a company (/company/) or post link

Example fix

// before
--profile-url "http://fr.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe?originalSubdomain=fr"
// after
--profile-url "https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe/"

const PROFILE_URL_RE = /^https:\/\/www\.linkedin\.com\/in\/[A-Za-z0-9\-%_]+\/$/;
if (!PROFILE_URL_RE.test(profileUrl)) throw new Error(`--profile-url must be https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/, got: ${profileUrl}`);

function isCanonicalLinkedInProfileUrl(v) { try { const u = new URL(v); return u.protocol === 'https:' && u.hostname === 'www.linkedin.com' && /^\/in\/[^/]+\/$/.test(u.pathname) && u.search === '' && u.hash === ''; } catch { return false; } }

try { await runConnect(args); } catch (e) { if (String(e.message).includes('must be an exact https://www.linkedin.com/in/')) { console.error('Normalize the URL to https://www.linkedin.com/in/<profile>/'); } else { throw e; } }

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --profile-url with: http:// instead of https://, a country-prefixed domain (e.g. linkedin.com or fr.linkedin.com), a trailing path (e.g. /in/jane/details/), missing trailing slash, a vanity name with invalid characters, or a non-profile LinkedIn URL (/company/, /posts/).

Common situations: Copying a profile URL from the mobile app (shares/posts links), from Google search results (tracking params, country TLD), or pasting a logged-out redirect URL instead of the canonical /in/<handle>/ form.

Related errors

• ${label} is required
• ${label} must be a positive integer
• ${label} must be <= ${maxValue}
• ${label} must be a numeric ID
• ${label} cannot be empty

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fbee4a441e95a628. Report an issue: GitHub.