jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

player must be like 3741/niko, a player URL, or a stats play

Error message

player must be like 3741/niko, a player URL, or a stats player URL

What it means

This ArgumentError is thrown by parsePlayerRef when the player string is non-empty but matches none of the accepted formats: compact 'id/slug', '/player/id/slug', or '/stats/players(/matches)/id/slug' paths (URLs are reduced to their pathname first). It means the library could not extract a numeric playerId and slug from the input. HLTV players are identified by the id/slug pair, so an unparseable ref cannot be turned into a stats URL.

Source

Thrown at clis/hltv/utils.js:189

  }

  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();
  const mm = String(date.getUTCMonth() + 1).padStart(2, '0');
  const dd = String(date.getUTCDate()).padStart(2, '0');
  return `${yyyy}-${mm}-${dd}`;
}

function addMonths(date, months) {
  const copy = new Date(Date.UTC(date.getUTCFullYear(), date.getUTCMonth(), date.getUTCDate()));
  copy.setUTCMonth(copy.getUTCMonth() + months);
  return copy;
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Pass the full ref in a supported form: '3741/niko', 'player/3741/niko', 'stats/players/3741/niko', or a full URL like https://www.hltv.org/player/3741/niko.
Look up the numeric player id on HLTV and append the URL slug; a nickname alone is not an accepted format.
Verify the URL is a player page (path starts with /player/<digits>/ or /stats/players/...), not a team or match page.
Strip query strings/fragments and trailing slashes if constructing the ref manually.

Example fix

// before
buildPlayerUrl('niko'); // ArgumentError
// after
buildPlayerUrl('3741/niko');
// or
buildPlayerUrl('https://www.hltv.org/player/3741/niko');

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const PLAYER_REF_RE = /^(?:https?:\/\/[^/]+)?\/?\s*(?:stats\/players(?:\/matches)?|player)?\/(\d+)\/([a-z0-9-]+)/i;
function isParsablePlayerRef(v) {
  const s = String(v ?? '').replace(/^https?:\/\/[^/]+/i, '').replace(/^\/+/, '');
  return /^(stats\/players(?:\/matches)?\/\d+\/[a-z0-9-]+|player\/\d+\/[a-z0-9-]+|\d+\/[a-z0-9-]+)$/i.test(s);
}
if (!isParsablePlayerRef(input)) throw new TypeError('player ref must be id/slug or a player/stats-player URL');

Type guard

function isPlayerRef(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && /^(?:stats\/players(?:\/matches)?\/\d+|player\/\d+|\d+)\/[a-z0-9-]+/i.test(v.replace(/^https?:\/\/[^/]+/i, '').replace(/^\/+/, ''));
}

Try / catch

try {
  return buildPlayerUrl(input);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.name === 'ArgumentError' && err.message.startsWith('player must be like')) {
    throw new Error(`Unsupported player ref "${input}" — use id/slug or a HLTV player URL`, { cause: err });
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Always carry both the numeric id and the slug; a nickname alone is never enough.
Normalize URLs to pathname + strip query/fragment before validating shape.
Keep player and team refs in separate fields so formats don't get crossed.
Unit-test refs with the same regex family used by the library (stats/player/compact patterns).

When it happens

Trigger: playerA('niko'), playerB('3741'), { player: 'hltv.org/player' }, a URL whose pathname lacks the id/slug pair (e.g. /stats/players or a team URL), or slug containing characters outside [a-z0-9-].

Common situations: Passing only a nickname ('niko') or only an id; pasting a profile URL with a trailing fragment that breaks parsing; mixing up team and player refs; older code paths passing 'players/3741/niko' (plural) which no pattern matches.

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

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e4c2570fcca0b90d. Report an issue: GitHub.