What causes "[runtime] Invalid ${envVar}="${raw}", using default ${fallback}s" in jackwener/OpenCLI?

Set the variable to a plain positive integer, e.g. export OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=90.

[runtime] Invalid ${envVar}="${raw}", using default ${fallba

Error message

[runtime] Invalid ${envVar}="${raw}", using default ${fallback}s

What it means

parseEnvTimeout reads an integer-milliseconds-style timeout variable (e.g. OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, OPENCLI_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT) from the environment. If the variable is set but does not parse as a positive integer, the library logs this warning and falls back to the built-in default (in seconds, hence the 's' suffix in the message). Execution continues with defaultTimeout semantics.

Source

Thrown at src/browser/config.ts:8

import { log } from '../logger.js';

function parseEnvTimeout(envVar: string, fallback: number): number {
  const raw = process.env[envVar];
  if (raw === undefined) return fallback;
  const parsed = parseInt(raw, 10);
  if (Number.isNaN(parsed) || parsed <= 0) {
    log.warn(`[runtime] Invalid ${envVar}="${raw}", using default ${fallback}s`);
    return fallback;
  }
  return parsed;
}

export const DEFAULT_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT = parseEnvTimeout('OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT', 45);
export const DEFAULT_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT = parseEnvTimeout('OPENCLI_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT', 60);

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Set the variable to a plain positive integer, e.g. export OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=90.
Remove units ('s', 'ms', 'm') from the value; seconds are implied by the documented default.
Unset the variable entirely to use the built-in default (45s connect timeout).
Check shell startup files (.bashrc/.zshrc) for a stale or malformed export.

Example fix

// before
export OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT="45s"
// after
export OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=45

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const v = process.env.OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT;
const ok = v === undefined || (/^\d+$/.test(v) && parseInt(v, 10) > 0);
if (!ok) throw new Error(`OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT must be a positive integer, got "${v}"`);

Type guard

function isValidTimeout(raw) {
  if (raw === undefined) return true;
  const n = Number(raw);
  return Number.isInteger(n) && n > 0;
}

Prevention

Set timeout env vars as bare positive integers with no units (e.g. 45, not 45s).
Unset the variable to use defaults instead of guessing formats.
Check shell rc files for malformed exports after editing timeouts.

When it happens

Trigger: OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT or OPENCLI_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT is set to a non-numeric string (e.g. '45s', 'one minute'), zero, or a negative number, so parseInt yields NaN or <= 0.

Common situations: Users writing '45s' or '1m' in shell profiles (the parser expects a bare integer); quoting mistakes leaving units in the value; locale-formatted numbers; setting the var to 0 intending 'no timeout'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/05e5a79702edb1ff. Report an issue: GitHub.