jackwener/OpenCLI · error · AuthRequiredError

reddit.com

reddit.com

Error message

Reddit reddit_session cookie missing

What it means

This AuthRequiredError is thrown by verifyRedditIdentity in clis/reddit/auth.js when the browser context has no non-empty `reddit_session` cookie for reddit.com. The library requires that cookie as a precondition before probing /api/me.json, because Reddit's personalized/identity APIs only work for an authenticated session. It signals the user must log in to Reddit in the automation browser.

Source

Thrown at clis/reddit/auth.js:11

import { AuthRequiredError, CommandExecutionError } from '@jackwener/opencli/errors';
import { registerSiteAuthCommands } from '../_shared/site-auth.js';

async function hasRedditSessionCookie(page) {
  const cookies = await page.getCookies({ url: 'https://www.reddit.com' });
  return cookies.some(c => c.name === 'reddit_session' && c.value);
}

async function verifyRedditIdentity(page) {
  if (!await hasRedditSessionCookie(page)) {
    throw new AuthRequiredError('reddit.com', 'Reddit reddit_session cookie missing');
  }
  await page.goto('https://www.reddit.com/');
  await page.wait(2);
  const result = await page.evaluate(`(async () => {
    try {
      const res = await fetch('/api/me.json', { credentials: 'include', headers: { 'Accept': 'application/json' } });
      if (res.status === 401 || res.status === 403) {
        return { kind: 'auth', detail: 'Reddit /api/me.json HTTP ' + res.status };
      }
      if (!res.ok) return { kind: 'http', httpStatus: res.status };
      const d = await res.json();
      const data = d && d.data;
      if (!data || !data.name) {
        return { kind: 'auth', detail: 'Reddit /api/me.json 200 but no data.name — anonymous' };
      }
      return { ok: true, username: String(data.name), id: String(data.id || '') };
    } catch (e) {
      return { kind: 'exception', detail: String(e && e.message || e) };

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

  1. Run the library's login flow for the reddit site (opens https://www.reddit.com/login) and complete an interactive login so the reddit_session cookie is set.
  2. Verify the browser profile/persisted context directory is the one the CLI actually reuses, so cookies survive restarts.
  3. Manually log in to reddit.com in the automation browser and re-run the command.
  4. Check that no extension/proxy is stripping cookies from https://www.reddit.com.

Example fix

// before (no session)
opencli reddit home --limit 10
// after (login first)
opencli reddit login   # completes browser login, sets reddit_session
opencli reddit home --limit 10
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const cookies = await page.getCookies({ url: 'https://www.reddit.com' });
if (!cookies.some(c => c.name === 'reddit_session' && c.value)) {
  await runRedditLogin(page); // establish session before calling commands
}

Type guard

function hasRedditSession(cookies) {
  return Array.isArray(cookies) && cookies.some(c => c?.name === 'reddit_session' && typeof c.value === 'string' && c.value.length > 0);
}

Try / catch

try {
  await opencli.reddit.home({ limit: 10 });
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof AuthRequiredError && e.code === 'reddit.com') {
    await opencli.reddit.login();
    return opencli.reddit.home({ limit: 10 });
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any registered reddit site-auth command (or `home`, which routes through verifyRedditIdentity) before ever completing a browser login: page.getCookies({url:'https://www.reddit.com'}) returns no `reddit_session` cookie, or one with an empty value.

Common situations: Fresh browser profile / first run of the CLI; the user skipped the interactive login step; cookies were cleared or the profile directory was wiped; a corporate proxy or cookie-blocking extension strips Reddit cookies.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/220ec48a618de071. Report an issue: GitHub.