jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

xiaohongshu ask failed: ${error || 'unknown error'}

Error message

xiaohongshu ask failed: ${error || 'unknown error'}

What it means

This is the catch-all CommandExecutionError from mapAskError: the ask page script returned an error value that is neither 'answer_timeout' nor 'send_message_failed', so the library wraps it into 'xiaohongshu ask failed: <error>' with the page URL as a hint. It signals an unrecognized failure mode of the in-page ask flow.

Source

Thrown at clis/xiaohongshu/ask.js:371

      })()
    `;
}

function requirePrompt(query) {
    const prompt = String(query || '').trim();
    if (!prompt) throw new ArgumentError('query is required');
    return prompt;
}

function mapAskError(raw, timeoutSeconds) {
    const error = compactSingleLine(raw?.error);
    if (error === 'answer_timeout') {
        throw new TimeoutError('xiaohongshu ask', timeoutSeconds, '点点没有在超时时间内返回答案；可以重试或提高 --timeout。');
    }
    if (error === 'send_message_failed') {
        throw new AuthRequiredError(XHS_WEB_HOST, 'Xiaohongshu 点点 did not accept the query. Check login status for www.xiaohongshu.com.');
    }
    throw new CommandExecutionError(
        `xiaohongshu ask failed: ${error || 'unknown error'}`,
        raw?.page_url ? `Page URL: ${raw.page_url}` : undefined,
    );
}

function requireAskPayload(raw) {
    if (!raw || typeof raw !== 'object') {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('xiaohongshu ask returned a malformed page payload');
    }
    const answer = cleanText(raw.answer || raw.base_info?.text || '');
    if (!answer) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('xiaohongshu ask returned a malformed page payload: missing answer');
    }
    if (!compactSingleLine(raw.message_id) || !compactSingleLine(raw.conversation_id)) {
        throw new CommandExecutionError('xiaohongshu ask returned a malformed page payload: missing message identity');
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

  1. Read the interpolated error string (and Page URL hint) to identify the actual failure cause.
  2. Retry the ask command — transient page issues often resolve.
  3. Re-run login to rule out session problems even though it wasn't classified as auth failure.
  4. Update the library if XHS changed its page behavior/error vocabulary.
  5. Inspect raw.page_url in the browser to see what state the page was in.

Example fix

// before
const res = await xiaohongshuAsk({ query });
// after
try {
  const res = await xiaohongshuAsk({ query });
} catch (e) {
  console.error('ask failed:', e.message); // includes unmapped XHS error
  await xiaohongshuLogin();
  return xiaohongshuAsk({ query });
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

try {
  return await xiaohongshuAsk({ query });
} catch (e) {
  if (/xiaohongshu ask failed:/.test(e.message) && attempts < 3) {
    await sleep(2000 * attempts);
    return xiaohongshuAsk({ query });
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: raw.error is any falsy/unexpected value (e.g. undefined, 'unknown', a new XHS error code) and raw.ok === false causes mapAskError to fall through to the final throw.

Common situations: Xiaohongshu changed its front-end error codes after an update; the page returned an unexpected response shape; a transient network hiccup produced an unmapped error; a bug in the injected script yields no error field.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/02d606cc522459fc. Report an issue: GitHub.