koala73/worldmonitor · error

MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number

Error message

MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number

What it means

The smoke script reads MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS to set a run deadline. If the value is not a finite number greater than 0 (including unset-but-present empty strings or non-numeric strings), it throws 'MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number'. Number() of a non-numeric string is NaN, which fails the guard.

Solutions

1. Set MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS to a positive integer in milliseconds, e.g. 600000
2. Unset the variable to fall back to DEFAULT_RUN_BUDGET_MS
3. Fix non-numeric characters (spaces, units) in the value

Example fix

// before
export MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS=""
// after
export MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS=600000

const raw = process.env.MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS;
const ms = raw === undefined ? undefined : Number(raw);
if (ms !== undefined && !(Number.isFinite(ms) && ms > 0)) throw new Error(`MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number, got ${JSON.stringify(raw)}`);

const isPositiveNumber = (v) => typeof v === 'number' && Number.isFinite(v) && v > 0;

try {
  runBudgetMs = Number(process.env.MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS ?? DEFAULT_RUN_BUDGET_MS);
  if (!(Number.isFinite(runBudgetMs) && runBudgetMs > 0)) throw new Error('MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number');
} catch (err) {
  console.error(`${err.message}; using default ${DEFAULT_RUN_BUDGET_MS}ms`);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Exporting MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS="abc" (NaN), "0", "-5000", or "" (empty string coerces to 0), then running the script.

Common situations: CI secrets or .env files with an empty or mistyped value; quoting mistakes like MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS="30 000"; unit confusion (passing seconds instead of milliseconds like "30").

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a valid" / "Invalid ... value" environment variable errors: how libraries validate env vars and what to do when they reject yours — this error's family across 48 libraries.

Related errors

• Acquisition provider
• : editorialLinks must be an array
• Convex unavailable
• EXA_API_KEY is required for exa-search adapter
• Generic adapter requires acquisition config

AI-assisted analysis of koala73/worldmonitor@e586b8b4b8 (2026-09-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d9a1d31bb7c4beaa. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at scripts/mcp-live-smoke.mjs:864

  };
  try {
    writeFileSync(reportPath, `${JSON.stringify(report, null, 2)}\n`, 'utf8');
    console.log(`MCP smoke report: ${reportPath}`);
    return true;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`Unable to write MCP smoke report: ${formatSafeError(error)}`);
    return false;
  }
}

async function main() {
  let completedAllGroups = false;
  let reportPath = null;
  try {
    reportPath = reportPathFromArgs(process.argv.slice(2));
    runBudgetMs = Number(process.env.MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS ?? DEFAULT_RUN_BUDGET_MS);
    if (!(Number.isFinite(runBudgetMs) && runBudgetMs > 0)) {
      throw new Error('MCP_SMOKE_RUN_BUDGET_MS must be a positive number');
    }
    runDeadlineAt = Date.now() + runBudgetMs;

    console.log('\n── canonical ──');
    for (const host of HOSTS) {
      await walkHost(host);
      stopIfRunBudgetExhausted();
      await probeDiscovery(host);
      stopIfRunBudgetExhausted();
    }
    completeGroup('canonical');

    console.log('\n── aliases ──');
    for (const host of ALIAS_HOSTS) {
      await probeAliasMigration(host);
      stopIfRunBudgetExhausted();
    }
    completeGroup('aliases');

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