jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CliError

PARSE_ERROR

PARSE_ERROR

Error message

Bloomberg Businessweek page returned malformed story data

What it means

The businessweek command scrapes Bloomberg's Businessweek page expecting Next.js __NEXT_DATA__/module data exposing story entries. This CliError with code PARSE_ERROR fires when the loaded result is not an object — i.e. the page loader returned nothing usable even after the NO_NEXT_DATA/NO_MODULES retry. It indicates the page structure or delivery changed rather than a user mistake.

Source

Thrown at clis/bloomberg/businessweek.js:107

      ${normalizeStoryPathSource}
      ${extractStoriesSource}
      const el = document.getElementById('__NEXT_DATA__');
      if (!el) return { ok: false, error: 'NO_NEXT_DATA', title: document.title };
      let data;
      try { data = JSON.parse(el.textContent); }
      catch (err) { return { ok: false, error: 'BAD_NEXT_DATA', message: String(err) }; }
      const stories = extractBusinessweekStoriesFromNextData(data);
      if (!stories) return { ok: false, error: 'NO_MODULES' };
      return { ok: true, stories };
    })()`);
        let result = await loadStories();
        // Next.js sometimes hydrates slowly — retry once before giving up.
        if (result && result.ok === false && (result.error === 'NO_NEXT_DATA' || result.error === 'NO_MODULES')) {
            await page.wait(4);
            result = await loadStories();
        }
        if (!result || typeof result !== 'object') {
            throw new CliError('PARSE_ERROR', 'Bloomberg Businessweek page returned malformed story data', 'Bloomberg may have changed the page structure.');
        }
        if (result.ok === false) {
            throw new CliError('PARSE_ERROR', `Bloomberg Businessweek page did not expose story data (${result.error})`, 'Bloomberg may have changed the page structure.');
        }
        const stories = Array.isArray(result.stories) ? result.stories : [];
        if (!stories.length) {
            throw new CliError('NOT_FOUND', 'No Bloomberg Businessweek stories found', 'Bloomberg may have changed the page structure.');
        }
        return stories.slice(0, count);
    },
});

export const __test__ = {
    command,
    parseBusinessweekLimit,
    normalizeBusinessweekStoryPath,
    extractBusinessweekStoriesFromNextData,
};

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Retry later; slow hydration or transient interstitials often resolve
2. Clear/retry with a real browser profile and accept Bloomberg's consent banner so the real page loads
3. Inspect the served HTML to find where story data now lives and update loadStories() selectors in clis/bloomberg/businessweek.js
4. Check for a CLI update — scrape-target changes are usually fixed upstream
5. Use an alternate source (e.g. Bloomberg RSS) if scraping remains blocked

Example fix

// before
const stories = await getBusinessweekStories(page);
// after
try { const stories = await getBusinessweekStories(page); }
catch (e) {
  if (e.code === 'PARSE_ERROR') console.error('Businessweek page layout changed or blocked; try again later or update the CLI');
  else throw e;
}

null

function isLoadResult(r) {
  return !!r && typeof r === 'object' && !Array.isArray(r);
}

try { const stories = await getBusinessweekStories(page); }
catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof CliError && e.code === 'PARSE_ERROR') { console.error('Page layout changed or blocked; retry later or update selectors'); }
  else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: loadStories() returns null/non-object after the initial attempt and one retry (page.wait(4) then reload) — e.g. the page served a consent/paywall wall, a bot-detection page, or the Next.js data hooks were renamed/removed by a Bloomberg site update.

Common situations: Bloomberg redesigns its Next.js frontend; a consent-cookie or paywall interstitial replaces the article list; bot detection blocks the headless browser; geo-blocking changes the served page.

Understand the failure class

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

Related errors

• NOT_FOUND
• FETCH_ERROR
• PARSE_ERROR
• Failed to parse Jike user data: ${data.message || 'unknown e
• Could not parse profile data

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5b94814c9b7536ba. Report an issue: GitHub.