jackwener/OpenCLI · warning · EmptyResultError

No Steam results matched "${query}".

Error message

No Steam results matched "${query}".

What it means

Steam's storesearch endpoint returned successfully but with an empty items array, so the CLI throws EmptyResultError stating no results matched the query. This is an expected empty-result path for queries Steam cannot match.

Source

Thrown at clis/steam/search.js:45

    description: 'Search the Steam storefront by name keyword',
    domain: 'store.steampowered.com',
    strategy: Strategy.PUBLIC,
    browser: false,
    args: [
        { name: 'query', positional: true, required: true, help: 'Search keyword (e.g. "portal", "stardew")' },
        { name: 'limit', type: 'int', default: 20, help: 'Max results (1-50)' },
        { name: 'currency', default: 'us', help: 'Storefront country code (e.g. us / cn / jp / de)' },
    ],
    columns: ['rank', 'id', 'name', 'price', 'currency', 'metascore', 'platforms', 'url'],
    func: async (args) => {
        const query = requireString(args.query, 'query');
        const limit = requireBoundedInt(args.limit, 20, 50);
        const cc = requireCountryCode(args.currency);
        const url = `${STEAM_STORE}/api/storesearch/?term=${encodeURIComponent(query)}&l=en&cc=${encodeURIComponent(cc)}`;
        const body = await steamFetch(url, 'steam search');
        const items = Array.isArray(body?.items) ? body.items : [];
        if (!items.length) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('steam search', `No Steam results matched "${query}".`);
        }
        return items.slice(0, limit).map((item, i) => ({
            rank: i + 1,
            id: String(item.id ?? ''),
            name: decodeHtmlEntities(item.name ?? ''),
            price: priceCents(item?.price?.final ?? null),
            currency: String(item?.price?.currency ?? '').toUpperCase(),
            metascore: item.metascore != null && item.metascore !== '' ? Number(item.metascore) : null,
            platforms: platformList(item.platforms),
            url: item.id ? `${STEAM_STORE}/app/${item.id}/` : '',
        }));
    },
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Shorten or simplify the search term (use the base title, not the full subtitle)
2. Try the game's official English name or alternate spellings
3. Try a different currency/country code if the title may be regional
4. Catch EmptyResultError and prompt the user for a broader query

Example fix

// before
const body = await steamFetch(url, 'steam search');
const items = Array.isArray(body?.items) ? body.items : [];
if (!items.length) throw new EmptyResultError('steam search', `No Steam results matched "${query}".`);
// after
if (!items.length) {
  const retry = await steamFetch(url.replace(/term=[^&]+/, `term=${encodeURIComponent(query.split(/\s+/)[0])}`), 'steam search');
  ...
}

const term = String(query ?? '').trim();
if (term.length < 2) throw new Error('search term too short');

function hasSearchItems(body) {
  return Array.isArray(body?.items) && body.items.length > 0;
}

try {
  const results = await steamSearch({ query });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof EmptyResultError) {
    // fall back to a shortened query or inform the user no matches exist
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Search term with no store matches; term in a language not used by the storefront for the given cc; overly specific multi-word queries; very short or garbled terms.

Common situations: Searching indie/niche titles under a regional storefront where they are not sold; misspelling game names; using localized names against an English storefront (or vice versa).

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

• No 12306 stations match "${keyword}"
• ${label}
• No papers found for author "${authorText}". Try alternate sp
• No papers found. Try a different keyword.
• crates search

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5840b693a0d71306. Report an issue: GitHub.