jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

player is required

Error message

player is required

What it means

This ArgumentError is thrown by parsePlayerRef in clis/hltv/utils.js when the player reference argument is empty. parsePlayerRef normalizes String(value ?? defaultValue).trim(); if the resulting string is empty — even though a default of '3741/niko' exists — the function refuses to proceed because it cannot build a valid HLTV player identity ({playerId, slug}). It indicates a programming/config mistake: an empty string or whitespace-only value was passed explicitly.

Source

Thrown at clis/hltv/utils.js:178

  let path = raw;
  if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(raw)) path = parseHltvUserUrl(raw, 'team').pathname;
  path = path.replace(/^https?:\/\/[^/]+/i, '').replace(/^\/+/, '');

  const statsMatch = path.match(/^stats\/teams(?:\/matches)?\/(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)/i);
  const teamMatch = path.match(/^team\/(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)/i);
  const compactMatch = path.match(/^(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)$/i);
  const match = statsMatch || teamMatch || compactMatch;
  if (!match) {
    throw new ArgumentError('team must be like 6667/falcons, a team URL, or a stats team URL');
  }

  return { teamId: match[1], slug: match[2].toLowerCase() };
}

export function parsePlayerRef(value, defaultValue = '3741/niko') {
  const raw = String(value ?? defaultValue).trim();
  if (!raw) throw new ArgumentError('player is required');

  let path = raw;
  if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(raw)) path = parseHltvUserUrl(raw, 'player').pathname;
  path = path.replace(/^https?:\/\/[^/]+/i, '').replace(/^\/+/, '');

  const statsMatch = path.match(/^stats\/players(?:\/matches)?\/(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)/i);
  const playerMatch = path.match(/^player\/(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)/i);
  const compactMatch = path.match(/^(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)$/i);
  const match = statsMatch || playerMatch || compactMatch;
  if (!match) {
    throw new ArgumentError('player must be like 3741/niko, a player URL, or a stats player URL');
  }

  return { playerId: match[1], slug: match[2].toLowerCase() };
}

function formatDate(date) {
  const yyyy = date.getUTCFullYear();

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Remove the empty argument so null/undefined falls back to the default '3741/niko', or pass a valid ref like '3741/niko'.
2. Check where the value originates (env var, CLI arg, config) and default it to null/undefined instead of '' before calling.
3. Trim and validate the input before calling: if (!input?.trim()) skip or substitute a real player ref.

Example fix

// before
buildPlayerUrl(process.env.PLAYER ?? ''); // throws if PLAYER=''
// after
const ref = process.env.PLAYER?.trim() ? process.env.PLAYER : undefined;
buildPlayerUrl(ref); // falls back to default '3741/niko'

function isValidPlayerRef(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim().length > 0;
}
if (!isValidPlayerRef(input)) throw new TypeError('player must be a non-empty string');

function hasPlayerRef(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim() !== '';
}

try {
  const { playerId, slug } = parsePlayerRef(input);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.name === 'ArgumentError' && err.message === 'player is required') {
    // fall back to default player
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling playerA(''), playerB(' '), or passing { player: '' } into { playerId, slug } — any explicit empty or whitespace-only string. Note that null/undefined fall back to the default, so this fires only when a non-nullish empty value is supplied (or when String() coercion of a value yields an empty string, e.g. an empty array []).

Common situations: Config/env vars like PLAYER_REF='' read as empty strings instead of undefined; shell scripts passing "$VAR" with unset vars; form/CLI inputs not trimmed and defaulted; JSON config with empty fields overriding the built-in default.

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

• ${label} must be <= ${maxValue}
• player must be like 3741/niko, a player URL, or a stats play
• period must be all, lastMonth, last3Months, last6Months, las
• match is required
• match must be an HLTV match, stats series, or mapstats URL

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b159a8f5c935ca21. Report an issue: GitHub.