jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

${label} returned HTTP ${resp.status}

Error message

${label} returned HTTP ${resp.status}

What it means

brewFetch throws this generic CommandExecutionError for any non-OK HTTP status that isn't the specially-handled 404 or 429 — e.g. 500/502/503 from GitHub Pages, 403 from a WAF, or unusual proxies' error pages. The message carries the label and the raw status code since the API has no structured error body to surface.

Source

Thrown at clis/homebrew/utils.js:81

        resp = await fetch(url, { headers: { 'user-agent': UA, accept: 'application/json' } });
    }
    catch (err) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(
            `${label} request failed: ${err?.message ?? err}`,
            'Check that formulae.brew.sh is reachable from this network.',
        );
    }
    if (resp.status === 404) {
        throw new EmptyResultError(label, `Homebrew API returned 404 for ${url}.`);
    }
    if (resp.status === 429) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(
            `${label} returned HTTP 429 (rate limited)`,
            'Homebrew throttles bursts; wait a few seconds and retry.',
        );
    }
    if (!resp.ok) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`${label} returned HTTP ${resp.status}`);
    }
    let body;
    try {
        body = await resp.json();
    }
    catch (err) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError(`${label} returned malformed JSON: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
    }
    return body;
}

/** Coerce a count value (which Homebrew analytics serves as `"139,972"`) to a plain number. */
export function parseInstallCount(value) {
    if (value == null) return null;
    const s = String(value).replace(/,/g, '').trim();
    if (!s) return null;
    const n = Number(s);
    return Number.isFinite(n) ? n : null;

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Check the Homebrew/GitHub Pages status and retry later for 5xx — the API is regenerated daily and outages are usually brief.
2. Verify with curl -I what status the URL returns and whether a proxy is injecting the error.
3. For 403, whitelist formulae.brew.sh in the proxy/firewall or exempt the domain from TLS inspection.
4. Wrap calls in retry-with-backoff for transient 5xx.

Example fix

// before
const data = await brewFetch(url, 'formula info'); // 503 during outage -> throws
// after
let data;
for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= 3; attempt++) {
  try { data = await brewFetch(url, 'formula info'); break; }
  catch (err) {
    if (/HTTP 5\d\d/.test(err.message) && attempt < 3) { await sleep(2 ** attempt * 1000); continue; }
    throw err;
  }
}

null

null

try {
  const data = await brewFetch(url, label);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof CommandExecutionError && /HTTP \d{3}/.test(err.message) && !/HTTP (404|429)/.test(err.message)) {
    // 5xx/other: transient or upstream — retry with backoff or degrade gracefully
    return getCachedOrEmpty(label);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any brewFetch-based call while formulae.brew.sh / GitHub Pages returns a 5xx outage or 403; a middlebox (corporate proxy, SSL-inspection appliance) intercepting and returning its own error status.

Common situations: Homebrew API or GitHub Pages incidents (check status); corporate proxies blocking the domain with 403; misconfigured egress gateways returning 5xx; transient upstream hiccups during a deploy of the static API.

Related errors

• API_ERROR
• API_ERROR
• arXiv API HTTP ${resp.status}
• coingecko categories returned HTTP ${resp.status}
• coingecko coin failed: HTTP ${resp.status}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47cb3f3c75cd830e. Report an issue: GitHub.