jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

Xianyu messages returned malformed message list

Error message

Xianyu messages returned malformed message list

What it means

After in-page extraction, the CLI expects state.messages to be an array. If the evaluated object comes back without a messages array (page structure changed, extraction partially failed, or a non-standard page state was captured), CommandExecutionError('Xianyu messages returned malformed message list') is thrown at clis/xianyu/messages.js:68. This is a defensive check against malformed automation output, not an API business error.

Source

Thrown at clis/xianyu/messages.js:68

        if (hasIds) {
            url = buildChatUrl(itemId, userId);
            await page.goto(url);
        } else {
            if (!page.getCurrentUrl || !/https:\/\/www\.goofish\.com\/im\b/.test(await page.getCurrentUrl())) {
                await page.goto('https://www.goofish.com/im');
            }
        }
        await page.wait(2);
        if (rank > 0) {
            requireClickResult(await page.evaluate(buildClickInboxConversationEvaluate(rank - 1)), 'messages rank click');
            await page.wait(2);
        }
        const state = requireEvaluateObject(await page.evaluate(buildExtractChatStateEvaluate(limit)), 'messages');
        if (state?.requiresAuth) {
            throw new AuthRequiredError('www.goofish.com', 'Xianyu messages requires a logged-in browser session');
        }
        if (!Array.isArray(state.messages)) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('Xianyu messages returned malformed message list');
        }
        const messages = state.messages;
        if (!messages.length) {
            throw new EmptyResultError('xianyu messages', 'No visible messages were found in this Xianyu conversation');
        }
        return messages.slice(-limit).map((message, index) => ({
            index: index + 1,
            peer_name: state.peer_name || '',
            item_title: state.item_title || '',
            message: message.text || '',
            item_id: itemId,
            peer_user_id: userId,
            url: url || '',
        }));
    },
});

export const __test__ = {

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Re-run the command once — a slow/mid-render page is the most frequent benign cause.
2. Update the CLI/library to the latest version, since Goofish DOM changes are usually patched upstream.
3. Verify the target conversation opens normally in the browser (not a captcha or error page).
4. Increase wait time before extraction so the chat fully renders.
5. Inspect the saved page state/screenshot; if the DOM changed, report or patch the extraction script.

Example fix

// before: one malformed page aborts a batch sync
for (const c of convs) await fetchMessages(c);

// after
for (const c of convs) {
  try { await fetchMessages(c); }
  catch (e) {
    if (e instanceof CommandExecutionError && /malformed/.test(e.message)) { failures.push(c); continue; }
    throw e;
  }
}

function isWellFormedChatState(s) { return s != null && typeof s === 'object' && Array.isArray(s.messages); }

let last;
for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
  try { return await fetchMessages(target); }
  catch (e) { last = e; if (e instanceof CommandExecutionError) { await sleep(2000 * (i + 1)); continue; } throw e; }
}
throw last;

When it happens

Trigger: The buildExtractChatStateEvaluate script runs on a page whose DOM does not match expectations — e.g. an interstitial, a chat page still loading, a page variant after a Goofish front-end update, or the evaluate returning an object lacking the messages key.

Common situations: Goofish shipped a DOM/UI change that broke the extraction selectors; hitting a non-chat page because rank/index targeting landed on the wrong conversation; slow page load so state was captured mid-render; library version drift between CLI and site markup.

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

• Ctrip package DOM extraction returned malformed rows
• Ctrip tour DOM extraction returned malformed rows
• Failed to fetch Barchart greeks for ${symbol}
• Failed to extract Booking.com cards: ${err?.message || err}
• Booking.com page returned no extractable data

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a4f31a45ab2e000c. Report an issue: GitHub.