jackwener/OpenCLI · error

Target tab required. Pass it as an argument or --tab <target

Error message

Target tab required. Pass it as an argument or --tab <targetId>.

What it means

`browser tab select` needs to know which tab to select: either a targetId positional argument or the --tab option. When resolveBrowserTabTarget finds neither (and no previously remembered default applies), the CLI throws this instructive error.

Source

Thrown at src/cli.ts:1215

    .description('Create a new tab and print its target ID')
    .action(browserAction(async (page, url?: string) => {
      if (!page.newTab) {
        throw new Error('This browser session does not support creating tabs');
      }
      const createdPage = await page.newTab(url);
      console.log(JSON.stringify({
        page: createdPage,
        url: url ?? null,
      }, null, 2));
    }));

  addBrowserTabOption(browserTab.command('select')
    .argument('[targetId]', 'Target tab/page identity returned by "browser open", "browser tab new", or "browser tab list"')
    .description('Select a tab by target ID and make it the default browser tab'))
    .action(browserAction(async (page, targetId?: string, opts?: { tab?: string } | Command) => {
      const resolvedTarget = resolveBrowserTabTarget(targetId, opts);
      if (!resolvedTarget) {
        throw new Error('Target tab required. Pass it as an argument or --tab <targetId>.');
      }
      await page.selectTab(resolvedTarget);
      saveBrowserTargetState(resolvedTarget, getPageScope(page));
      console.log(JSON.stringify({ selected: resolvedTarget }, null, 2));
    }));

  addBrowserTabOption(browserTab.command('close')
    .argument('[targetId]', 'Target tab/page identity returned by "browser open", "browser tab new", or "browser tab list"')
    .description('Close a tab by target ID'))
    .action(browserAction(async (page, targetId?: string, opts?: { tab?: string } | Command) => {
      const resolvedTarget = resolveBrowserTabTarget(targetId, opts);
      if (!page.closeTab) {
        throw new Error('This browser session does not support closing tabs');
      }
      if (!resolvedTarget) {
        throw new Error('Target tab required. Pass it as an argument or --tab <targetId>.');
      }
      const validatedTarget = await resolveBrowserTargetInSession(page, resolvedTarget, {

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Pass the target ID: opencli browser <session> tab select <targetId>
2. Or use the flag: opencli browser <session> tab select --tab <targetId>
3. Get valid target IDs from `browser open` output, `browser tab new`, or `browser tab list`
4. Check resolveBrowserTabTarget's precedence (positional vs --tab vs remembered state) if scripting

Example fix

// before
opencli browser my-session tab select
// after
opencli browser my-session tab select --tab 1A2B3C4D5E6F

const targetId = positional ?? opts.tab;
if (!targetId) throw new Error('tab select requires a targetId positional or --tab flag');

function hasTabTarget(t: string | undefined, o?: { tab?: string }): t is string {
  return Boolean(t ?? o?.tab);
}

try {
  await run(['opencli', 'browser', session, 'tab', 'select', targetId]);
} catch (e) {
  if (String((e as Error).message).startsWith('Target tab required')) {
    console.error('Get a targetId from `browser open`, `browser tab new`, or `browser tab list`.');
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `opencli browser <session> tab select` with no positional targetId and no --tab <targetId> flag.

Common situations: Omitting the argument in scripts; assuming the CLI auto-picks a tab; forgetting that `browser open` output's target ID must be passed along; stale remembered-tab state cleared between runs.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• keyword must not be empty
• <from> station must not be empty
• <to> station must not be empty
• who 不能为空
• key is required

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84b7b63220895844. Report an issue: GitHub.