What causes "Unexpected Reddit probe: ${JSON.stringify(result)}" in jackwener/OpenCLI?

Re-run once to rule out a transient destroyed-context evaluate.

jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Unexpected Reddit probe: ${JSON.stringify(result)}

Error message

Unexpected Reddit probe: ${JSON.stringify(result)}

What it means

CommandExecutionError thrown as a catch-all in verifyRedditIdentity when the probe result is neither ok, auth, http, nor exception — i.e. the in-page script returned an unexpected shape (or null/undefined). This guards against unanticipated probe payloads and bug fixes in the page script being silently ignored.

Source

Thrown at clis/reddit/auth.js:35

      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) };
    }
  })()`);
  if (result?.kind === 'auth') throw new AuthRequiredError('reddit.com', result.detail);
  if (result?.kind === 'http') throw new CommandExecutionError(`HTTP ${result.httpStatus} from /api/me.json`);
  if (result?.kind === 'exception') throw new CommandExecutionError(`Reddit whoami failed: ${result.detail}`);
  if (!result?.ok) throw new CommandExecutionError(`Unexpected Reddit probe: ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
  return { username: result.username, id: result.id };
}

registerSiteAuthCommands({
  site: 'reddit',
  domain: 'reddit.com',
  loginUrl: 'https://www.reddit.com/login',
  columns: ['username', 'id'],
  quickCheck: hasRedditSessionCookie,
  verify: verifyRedditIdentity,
  poll: async (page) => {
    if (!await hasRedditSessionCookie(page)) {
      throw new AuthRequiredError('reddit.com', 'Waiting for Reddit reddit_session cookie');
    }
    return verifyRedditIdentity(page);
  },
});

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Re-run once to rule out a transient destroyed-context evaluate.
Update the CLI/automation driver pair to compatible versions so evaluate results serialize as expected.
Inspect the JSON in the message — it shows the actual unexpected result and narrows the cause.
If reproducible, capture browser console/page state at evaluate time to see why the probe returned a malformed value.

Example fix

// before: page torn down during evaluate
await page.close(); const r = await verifyRedditIdentity(page);
// after: verify before closing
const r = await verifyRedditIdentity(page); await page.close();

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

// keep the page open and idle while probing
if (page.isClosed?.()) throw new Error('page already closed');

Type guard

function isProbeResult(r) {
  return !!r && typeof r === 'object' && typeof r.kind === 'string' &&
    ['ok','auth','http','exception'].includes(r.kind);
}

Try / catch

try {
  const me = await opencli.reddit.whoami();
} catch (e) {
  if (/Unexpected Reddit probe/.test(e.message)) {
    // malformed probe result: check driver versions / page lifecycle
    console.error(e.message);
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Keep automation driver and CLI versions compatible (evaluate serialization).
Never tear down the page concurrently with evaluate calls.
Log unexpected probe payloads for debugging.
Validate that evaluate returns an object before further processing in custom wrappers.

When it happens

Trigger: The page.evaluate result lacks the expected `kind`/`ok` fields — e.g. the evaluate returned undefined because the page context was destroyed mid-script, or a wrapper/driver serialized the result differently than expected.

Common situations: Automation driver version mismatch changing evaluate serialization; page crashed/navigated during evaluation returning null; modifications to the probe script returning an undocumented shape.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fa45d6d300068119. Report an issue: GitHub.