jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

${name} must be a positive integer

Error message

${name} must be a positive integer

What it means

requireLimit normalizes a numeric option (value ?? fallback) with Number() and throws this ArgumentError when the result is not an integer or is <= 0. The CLI enforces it so pagination flags like --limit never receive nonsense such as 0, negatives, decimals, or non-numeric strings.

Source

Thrown at clis/tiktok/utils.js:27

import {
    ArgumentError,
    AuthRequiredError,
    CommandExecutionError,
    EmptyResultError,
    getErrorMessage,
} from '@jackwener/opencli/errors';

export const TIKTOK_AID = '1988';
export const TIKTOK_HOST = 'https://www.tiktok.com';
export const SERVER_PAGE_MAX = 30;
export const MAX_PAGES = 4;

export function requireLimit(value, { fallback, max, name = 'limit' }) {
    const raw = value ?? fallback;
    const parsed = Number(raw);
    if (!Number.isInteger(parsed) || parsed <= 0) {
        throw new ArgumentError(
            `${name} must be a positive integer`,
            `Example: --${name} ${fallback}`,
        );
    }
    if (parsed > max) {
        throw new ArgumentError(
            `${name} must be <= ${max}`,
            `Example: --${name} ${max}`,
        );
    }
    return parsed;
}

export function normalizeUsername(value) {
    const username = String(value ?? '').trim().replace(/^@+/, '');
    if (!username) {
        throw new ArgumentError(
            'username is required',

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Pass a positive integer, e.g. --limit 10 (the error's example hint shows the fallback to use).
2. Omit the flag entirely to use the built-in fallback value.
3. Fix the shell variable so it does not expand to an empty string: use "${LIMIT:-10}".
4. Sanitize any programmatic input with Number.isInteger before invoking the command.

Example fix

// before
opencli tiktok user someone --limit 0
// after
opencli tiktok user someone --limit 10

function isValidLimit(v) {
  const n = Number(v);
  return Number.isInteger(n) && n > 0;
}
const limit = process.argv.flagLimit;
if (limit !== undefined && !isValidLimit(limit)) throw new Error(`limit must be a positive integer, got: ${JSON.stringify(limit)}`);

const isPositiveInt = (v) => Number.isInteger(Number(v)) && Number(v) > 0;

try {
  await cli.tiktok.user(username, { limit });
} catch (e) {
  if (/must be a positive integer/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error(`Bad --limit value ${limit!r}; use a positive integer like 10`);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --limit 0, a negative value, a float like 2.5, or a non-numeric string; passing an empty string (Number('') is 0); passing whitespace like ' ' (Number(' ') is 0).

Common situations: Shell variables that expand to empty strings (LIMIT="" -> --limit ""); copying example values that include units ('10 pages'); typos like '--limit l0'; scripts defaulting counters to 0 and forwarding them as limits.

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

• coingecko derivatives limit must be a positive integer
• ${label} must be a positive integer
• ${label} must be an integer >= ${min}
• medium tag "${value}" is not valid
• ${name} must be <= ${max}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/43b31e093eb6443c. Report an issue: GitHub.