jackwener/OpenCLI · error · EmptyResultError

No Claude response appeared within ${timeoutSeconds}s. Re-ru

Error message

No Claude response appeared within ${timeoutSeconds}s. Re-run with a higher --timeout if the model is still generating.

What it means

After a file-backed send, waitForResponse() polled for a new Claude message bubble beyond the pre-send baseline and returned null at the timeout. The library throws EmptyResultError telling the user to raise --timeout if the model is still generating.

Source

Thrown at clis/claude/ask.js:122

        // Post-toggle settle dropped — the next CDP eval (sendMessage / sendWithFile)
        // gives React enough time to flush aria-checked updates.

        if (kwargs.file) {
            const baseline = await withRetry(() => getBubbleCount(page));
            try {
                const fileResult = await sendWithFile(page, kwargs.file, prompt);
                if (fileResult && !fileResult.ok) {
                    throw new CommandExecutionError(fileResult.reason || 'Failed to attach file');
                }
            } catch (err) {
                // SPA navigates after send; "Promise was collected" means send succeeded
                if (!String(err?.message || err).includes('Promise was collected')) throw err;
            }
            // Pre-waitForResponse settle dropped — waitForResponse's first 3 s polling
            // tick covers the same window without an unconditional sleep.
            const result = await waitForResponse(page, baseline, prompt, timeoutMs);
            if (!result) {
                throw new EmptyResultError(
                    'claude ask',
                    `No Claude response appeared within ${timeoutSeconds}s. Re-run with a higher --timeout if the model is still generating.`,
                );
            }
            return [{ response: result }];
        }

        const baseline = await withRetry(() => getBubbleCount(page));
        const sendResult = await withRetry(() => sendMessage(page, prompt));
        if (!sendResult?.ok) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(sendResult?.reason || 'Failed to send message');
        }

        const result = await waitForResponse(page, baseline, prompt, timeoutMs);
        if (!result) {
            throw new EmptyResultError(
                'claude ask',
                `No Claude response appeared within ${timeoutSeconds}s. Re-run with a higher --timeout if the model is still generating.`,

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Re-run with a higher --timeout (e.g. --timeout 300).
Check the Claude tab manually to confirm the message actually sent.
Reduce the prompt/file size to shorten generation time.

Example fix

// before
opencli claude ask "analyze this" --file big.pdf --timeout 30
// after
opencli claude ask "analyze this" --file big.pdf --timeout 300

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// Size the timeout to the workload: file analysis needs more time
const timeout = opts.file ? 300 : 120;
if (opts.timeout && opts.timeout < (opts.file ? 180 : 60)) {
  console.warn('timeout is low; consider raising --timeout');
}

Try / catch

try {
  return await opencli.claude.ask(prompt, { file, timeout: 120 });
} catch (e) {
  if (/No Claude response appeared within/.test(e.message)) {
    return await opencli.claude.ask(prompt, { file, timeout: 600 });
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Use generous --timeout for file-heavy prompts.
Confirm the upload actually sent before waiting on the response.
Escalate timeout on retries rather than repeating the same value.

When it happens

Trigger: `claude ask ... --file x` where no response appears within timeoutSeconds (default 120) — slow model generation, upload stuck, or the bubble-count never increased.

Common situations: Long generation on complex prompts with attached PDFs/images; very low --timeout value; upload failed silently so the message never sent.

Understand the failure class

Timeouts: ETIMEDOUT, deadlines, and hung requests — what actually expires when a request times out.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/53edbaccefd41774. Report an issue: GitHub.