jackwener/OpenCLI · error · ArgumentError

zhihu search --limit must be a positive integer no greater t

Error message

zhihu search --limit must be a positive integer no greater than ${MAX_LIMIT}

What it means

The --limit option passed to `zhihu search` failed parseLimit's validation: it must be a positive integer no greater than MAX_LIMIT. The CLI rejects non-integers, zero/negative values, and oversized limits to avoid slow requests and tripping Zhihu risk controls. This is thrown before any network request is made.

Source

Thrown at clis/zhihu/search.js:49

            return `https://www.zhihu.com/api/v4/search_v3${parsed.search}`;
        }
        if (parsed.hostname === 'www.zhihu.com' && parsed.pathname === '/api/v4/search_v3') {
            return parsed.toString();
        }
    } catch {
        return '';
    }
    return '';
}

const MAX_LIMIT = 1000;
const PAGE_SIZE = 20;
const TYPES = ['all', 'answer', 'article', 'question'];

function parseLimit(value) {
    const limit = Number(value ?? 10);
    if (!Number.isInteger(limit) || limit <= 0 || limit > MAX_LIMIT) {
        throw new ArgumentError(`zhihu search --limit must be a positive integer no greater than ${MAX_LIMIT}`, 'Use a normal-sized limit to avoid slow requests or Zhihu risk controls');
    }
    return limit;
}

function requireQuery(value) {
    const query = String(value || '').trim();
    if (!query) {
        throw new ArgumentError('zhihu search query must not be empty', 'Example: opencli zhihu search codex');
    }
    return query;
}

function requireType(value) {
    const type = String(value || 'all');
    if (!TYPES.includes(type)) {
        throw new ArgumentError(`zhihu search --type must be one of: ${TYPES.join(', ')}`, 'Example: opencli zhihu search codex --type answer');
    }
    return type;

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

Pass a positive integer, e.g. --limit 20
Check the CLI's MAX_LIMIT constant in clis/zhihu/search.js and use a value at or below it
Quote or trim the value if it comes from a shell variable to avoid stray whitespace
Omit --limit entirely to use the default of 10

Example fix

// before
opencli zhihu search codex --limit 500
// after
opencli zhihu search codex --limit 20

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function safeLimit(v) {
  const n = Number(v ?? 10);
  if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n <= 0 || n > MAX_LIMIT) throw new Error(`--limit must be an integer 1..${MAX_LIMIT}`);
  return n;
}

Type guard

function isValidLimit(v) {
  return Number.isInteger(v) && v > 0 && v <= MAX_LIMIT;
}

Try / catch

try {
  await runSearch({ limit: userLimit });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof ArgumentError && err.message.includes('--limit')) {
    console.error('Invalid --limit; using default 10.');
    return runSearch({ limit: 10 });
  }
  throw err;
}

Prevention

Always pass explicit small integer limits (10–20) when scripting
Clamp user-supplied limits with Math.min/Math.floor before invoking the CLI
Quote shell variables to prevent stray whitespace or empty values
Check MAX_LIMIT in clis/zhihu/search.js when increasing limits

When it happens

Trigger: Running `opencli zhihu search <query> --limit` with e.g. --limit 0, --limit -5, --limit abc, --limit 2.5, or any integer above MAX_LIMIT; also any non-numeric string (Number(value) yields NaN).

Common situations: Typo or stray characters in the flag value; copying a default like 100 from docs when MAX_LIMIT is smaller; shell interpolation producing an empty or malformed value; passing '10 ' with whitespace from a script.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Unknown argument", "Invalid value", and "must be one of": invalid CLI argument errors explained — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/27a33aeb4614cea3. Report an issue: GitHub.