jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

--seq must be a positive integer (got "${kwargs.seq}")

Error message

--seq must be a positive integer (got "${kwargs.seq}")

What it means

When `--seq` is provided to `channel-mark`, the CLI converts it with `Number()` and requires a positive integer (used as the read-up-to sequence number in the request body). Non-integer, zero, negative, or non-numeric values throw ArgumentError including the original input.

Source

Thrown at clis/slock/channel-mark.js:44

  ],
  columns: ['channel', 'action', 'result'],
  func: async (page, kwargs) => {
    const channel = String(kwargs.channel ?? '').trim();
    if (!channel) throw new ArgumentError('channel required');
    const hasSeq = kwargs.seq !== undefined && kwargs.seq !== null && kwargs.seq !== '';
    if (kwargs.unread && hasSeq) {
      throw new ArgumentError('--unread and --seq are mutually exclusive');
    }

    let pathSuffix;
    let body;
    let action;
    if (kwargs.unread) {
      pathSuffix = '/unread';
      action = 'unread';
    } else if (hasSeq) {
      const seq = Number(kwargs.seq);
      if (!Number.isInteger(seq) || seq <= 0) throw new ArgumentError(`--seq must be a positive integer (got "${kwargs.seq}")`);
      pathSuffix = '/read';
      body = { seq };
      action = `read-to-${seq}`;
    } else {
      pathSuffix = '/read-all';
      action = 'read-all';
    }

    await page.goto(SLOCK_HOME_URL);
    const snippet = buildChannelScopedSnippet({
      channelInput: channel,
      method: 'POST',
      pathSuffix,
      body,
      serverIdOverride: kwargs.server,
    });
    const result = await page.evaluate(`(async () => { ${snippet} })()`);
    const data = dispatchEvaluateResult(result);

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Pass a positive integer: `slock channel-mark --channel '#ops' --seq 42`
2. Coerce/validate in scripts: `--seq "${SEQ%%.*}"` after checking `${SEQ%%.*}" = "$SEQ` for integers
3. Omit --seq to use the default read-all behavior
4. Confirm the correct value from `channel-list`/message metadata rather than guessing

Example fix

// before
$ slock channel-mark --channel '#ops' --seq 12.5
Error: --seq must be a positive integer (got "12.5")
// after
$ slock channel-mark --channel '#ops' --seq 13

const raw = String(input.seq ?? '').trim();
if (raw !== '') {
  const n = Number(raw);
  if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n <= 0) throw new Error(`--seq must be a positive integer, got: ${raw}`);
}

const isPositiveInt = (v) => Number.isInteger(v) && v > 0;

try {
  await run(['slock', 'channel-mark', '--channel', channel, '--seq', raw]);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof ArgumentError && /--seq must be a positive integer/.test(e.message)) {
    console.error('Pass a whole number > 0, or omit --seq for read-all.');
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `--seq 0`, `--seq -5`, `--seq 12.5`, `--seq abc`, or a quoted/whitespace value like `--seq " 42 "` that Number() coerces to NaN.

Common situations: Passing a timestamp or message id instead of a sequence number, shell quoting artifacts, or scripts feeding float values from JSON.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid argument type errors: "must be of type string", "expected X, got Y", and ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE explained — this error's family across 15 libraries.

Related errors

• archive search sort must be one of ${SORT_OPTIONS.join(', ')
• archive search mediatype must be one of ${MEDIATYPES.join(',
• archive search limit must be a positive integer
• archive search limit must be <= 100
• archive search query must not be empty

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8e4593e9408de8ae. Report an issue: GitHub.