jackwener/OpenCLI · warning · CommandExecutionError

LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed followers c

Error message

LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed followers count

What it means

normalizeCompanyInfo parses a company name/followers blob from the LinkedIn company page and coerces every field to plain strings/numbers. If the page reports a followers count but it cannot be coerced to a finite number (e.g. '1,200+ employees' markup drift or localized text), it throws to prevent propagating a NaN followers value to callers.

Source

Thrown at clis/linkedin/company.js:112

        slug = decodeURIComponent(match[1]);
    } catch {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed company slug');
    }
    return `https://${LINKEDIN_DOMAIN}/company/${encodeURIComponent(slug)}/about/`;
}

function normalizeCompanyInfo(info, targetUrl) {
    if (!info || typeof info !== 'object' || Array.isArray(info)) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed payload');
    }
    if (!info.name) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('LinkedIn company page rendered but no company name was found (layout drift or company not found)');
    }
    let followers = 0;
    if (info.followers) {
        followers = Number(info.followers);
        if (!Number.isFinite(followers)) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed followers count');
        }
    }
    return {
        name: String(info.name),
        industry: String(info.industry || ''),
        size: String(info.size || ''),
        headquarters: String(info.headquarters || ''),
        founded: String(info.founded || ''),
        website: String(info.website || ''),
        specialties: String(info.specialties || ''),
        followers,
        about: String(info.about || ''),
        url: normalizeCompanyOutputUrl(info.url, targetUrl),
    };
}

cli({
    site: 'linkedin',

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Log the raw info.followers value scraped from the page and extend/fix the extraction regex or selector to capture only digits
2. Pre-sanitize the string: strip commas, '+', 'followers', and expand K/M suffixes before calling Number()
3. Fall back to 0 followers (or omit the field) instead of throwing if the count is non-essential
4. Re-run the command; if persistent, check for library updates addressing LinkedIn layout drift

Example fix

// before
followers = Number(info.followers);
if (!Number.isFinite(followers)) {
    throw new CommandExecutionError('LinkedIn company extraction returned a malformed followers count');
}
// after
const raw = String(info.followers).replace(/[,+\s]|followers/gi, '');
const mult = /k$/i.test(raw) ? 1e3 : /m$/i.test(raw) ? 1e6 : 1;
followers = Number.parseFloat(raw) * mult;
if (!Number.isFinite(followers)) followers = 0;

function isValidFollowers(raw) { if (raw == null || raw === '') return true; const n = Number(String(raw).replace(/[,+\s]|followers/gi, '')); return Number.isFinite(n); }
// call before invoking: if (!isValidFollowers(rawFollowersText)) { /* sanitize or skip */ }

function isFiniteCount(v) { return typeof v === 'number' ? Number.isFinite(v) : v == null || v === '' ? true : Number.isFinite(Number(String(v).replace(/[^0-9.km]/gi, ''))); }

try { const company = await getCompany(url); } catch (e) { if (String(e.message).includes('malformed followers count')) { company.followers = 0; } else { throw e; } }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the LinkedIn company command when info.followers is truthy but Number(info.followers) yields NaN/Infinity — e.g. LinkedIn markup changed and the raw scraped followers string now contains 'followers', 'K'/'M' suffixes, or locale-specific separators.

Common situations: LinkedIn layout/attribute drift breaking the selector that captures the followers text; localized pages ('1.2M followers' in another language); the scraping regex grabbing surrounding decorative text.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

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• PARSE_ERROR
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AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/494bc12dedb3caf5. Report an issue: GitHub.