langchain-ai/deepagents · error · ValueError

Goal criteria request kind must be create or amend.

Error message

Goal criteria request kind must be create or amend.

What it means

A goal-criteria request must declare whether it creates a new goal or amends an existing one. `_goal_criteria_request` validates `kind` against the closed set `{"create", "amend"}` and raises this `ValueError` for any other value.

Source

Thrown at libs/code/deepagents_code/goal_rubric.py:1223

        (with `criteria` and `feedback` guaranteed present), otherwise a
        `GoalCreateRequest`. Fields not valid for the resolved kind are dropped.

    Raises:
        TypeError: If the request or one of its fields has the wrong type.
        ValueError: If a required request value is missing or invalid.
    """
    if not isinstance(value, dict):
        msg = "Goal criteria request must be an object."
        raise TypeError(msg)
    request_id = value.get("request_id")
    kind = value.get("kind")
    objective = value.get("objective")
    if not isinstance(request_id, str) or not request_id.strip():
        msg = "Goal criteria request requires a request_id."
        raise ValueError(msg)
    if kind not in {"create", "amend"}:
        msg = "Goal criteria request kind must be create or amend."
        raise ValueError(msg)
    if not isinstance(objective, str) or not objective.strip():
        msg = "Goal criteria request requires an objective."
        raise ValueError(msg)

    # Values are validated for non-blankness but stored verbatim (not stripped):
    # this feature deliberately preserves the user's exact goal/criteria wording,
    # and the prompt builders wrap each value in explicit XML boundaries.
    optional: dict[str, str] = {}
    for key in ("criteria", "feedback", "previous_criteria"):
        item = value.get(key)
        if item is None:
            continue
        if not isinstance(item, str):
            msg = f"Goal criteria request field {key} must be text."
            raise TypeError(msg)
        optional[key] = item

    if kind == "amend":

View on GitHub (pinned to a1af029e6e)

Solutions

1. Set `kind` to exactly "create" or "amend" (lowercase).
2. Normalize caller-side values with `.lower()` before constructing the request.
3. Update any custom builder/serializer that emits legacy kind names to the current two-value vocabulary.

Example fix

// before
request = {"request_id": rid, "kind": "Update", "objective": obj}
// after
request = {"request_id": rid, "kind": "amend", "objective": obj}

kind = value.get("kind")
if kind not in {"create", "amend"}:
    raise ValueError(f"kind must be 'create' or 'amend', got {kind!r}")

from typing import Literal, TypeGuard
GoalKind = Literal["create", "amend"]
def is_valid_kind(kind: object) -> TypeGuard[GoalKind]:
    return kind in ("create", "amend")

try:
    run_middleware(state)
except ValueError as e:
    if "kind must be create or amend" in str(e):
        log_and_surface_to_user(e)

When it happens

Trigger: Supplying `kind` values such as "update", "Create", "new", `None`, or omitting `kind` entirely when building a goal-criteria request that reaches the `before_agent`/`abefore_agent` middleware hook.

Common situations: Case-sensitivity mistakes ("Amend" vs "amend"); renaming a caller-side enum without matching this vocabulary; a code path that reuses a create-request template for a different operation.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Could not parse embedded resource block. Block expected eith
• question text must not be blank
• choice has a blank 'value': {choice!r}
• {question_type} question {question_text!r} requires a non-em
• {question_type} question {question_text!r} must not define '

AI-assisted analysis of langchain-ai/deepagents@a1af029e6e (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3656361becbcf8cd. Report an issue: GitHub.