jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Twitter article response payload is malformed

Error message

Twitter article response payload is malformed

What it means

After the in-page API call for TweetResultByRestId, the result must be either an array or a plain object. Anything else (undefined, null, string, number) means the page script failed to return a usable payload, so a CommandExecutionError 'Twitter article response payload is malformed' is thrown. This distinguishes a broken browser-side execution from an actual API error (handled by the httpStatus/error branches).

Source

Thrown at clis/twitter/article.js:246

          else if (blockType === 'unordered-list-item') parts.push('- ' + text);
          else if (blockType === 'ordered-list-item') {
            orderedCounter++;
            parts.push(orderedCounter + '. ' + text);
          }
          else if (blockType === 'code-block')       parts.push('\`\`\`\\n' + text + '\\n\`\`\`');
          else                                       parts.push(text);
        }

        return [{
          title,
          author: screenName,
          content: parts.join('\\n\\n') || legacy.full_text || '',
          url: 'https://x.com/' + screenName + '/status/' + tweetId,
        }];
      }
    `));
        if (!Array.isArray(rawResult) && !isPlainObject(rawResult)) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('Twitter article response payload is malformed');
        }
        if (rawResult?.httpStatus) {
            const message = describeTwitterApiError('TweetResultByRestId', rawResult.httpStatus);
            if (rawResult.httpStatus === 401 || rawResult.httpStatus === 403) {
                throw new AuthRequiredError('x.com', message);
            }
            throw new CommandExecutionError(message);
        }
        if (rawResult?.error) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError(rawResult.error + (rawResult.hint ? ` (${rawResult.hint})` : ''));
        }
        if (!Array.isArray(rawResult)) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('Twitter article response payload is malformed');
        }
        return rawResult;
    }
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Retry the command — often the page just wasn't ready
2. Ensure a stable network connection and let the page load fully (the command waits ~3s; slow pages may need retry)
3. Disable interfering browser extensions in the CLI's profile
4. If persistent, update the adapter's injected TweetResultByRestId script to match current X page behavior

function isPlainObject(v) { return v !== null && typeof v === 'object' && !Array.isArray(v); }
function isUsableTweetPayload(v) { return Array.isArray(v) || isPlainObject(v); }

try {
  await articleCmd({ tweetId });
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.includes('payload is malformed')) {
    console.error('Browser-side script returned unusable data — retry or update adapter scripts');
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: The page.evaluate script returns undefined or a primitive — e.g. the evaluate was interrupted, the injected script failed silently, or the browser wrapper returned a non-serializable result.

Common situations: X page not fully loaded so the injected script bailed, browser navigation/reload mid-evaluate, extension interference with page scripts, or adapter page scripts breaking after X front-end changes.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

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• lichess user: Lichess user "${username}" returned empty payl
• LinkedIn Learning searchV2 returned malformed payload: missi
• LinkedIn Learning feedRecommendationGroups returned malforme
• Maimai search returned malformed API payload

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/09ee7a83357d0e7a. Report an issue: GitHub.