langchain-ai/deepagents · error · ValueError

{name} must be a positive finite number, got {budget!r}

Error message

{name} must be a positive finite number, got {budget!r}

What it means

`AutoModeHITLMiddleware.__init__` validates the review-deadline budgets (e.g. `classifier_construction_timeout_seconds`) as a security control: a zero, negative, NaN, or infinite timeout would expire immediately and silently turn Auto mode into 'deny every gated batch, then escalate'. Any budget value that is not a positive finite number raises this ValueError at the boundary.

Source

Thrown at libs/code/deepagents_code/auto_mode.py:2184

        ):
            msg = "trusted_compaction_tool must be named compact_conversation"
            raise ValueError(msg)
        # The review deadline is a security control's budget, so reject a
        # nonsensical one at the boundary rather than trusting every caller:
        # a zero, negative, or NaN timeout expires immediately, silently turning
        # Auto into "deny every gated batch, then escalate". Callers that read
        # user config go through `resolve_auto_classifier_timeout`, which bounds
        # the value; this guards programmatic construction.
        for name, budget in (
            ("classifier_timeout_seconds", classifier_timeout_seconds),
            (
                "classifier_construction_timeout_seconds",
                classifier_construction_timeout_seconds,
            ),
        ):
            if not math.isfinite(budget) or budget <= 0:
                msg = f"{name} must be a positive finite number, got {budget!r}"
                raise ValueError(msg)
        interrupt_map = dict(interrupt_on)
        interrupt_map["create_temp_artifact"] = {
            "allowed_decisions": ["approve", "reject"],
            "description": "Create an exclusively allocated OS-temp scratch file.",
        }
        interrupt_map["delete_temp_artifact"] = {
            "allowed_decisions": ["approve", "reject"],
            "description": "Delete an exact current-request OS-temp scratch file.",
        }
        super().__init__(interrupt_map)
        self._worktree_root = Path(worktree_root).resolve(strict=False)
        from deepagents_code._git import read_git_remote_url_from_filesystem

        origin = read_git_remote_url_from_filesystem(self._worktree_root) or ""
        self._trusted_environment = {
            "worktree_root": str(self._worktree_root),
            "origin_remote": _redact_remote(origin),
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to a1af029e6e)

Solutions

1. Route user config through `resolve_auto_classifier_timeout`, which clamps the value to a valid positive bound.
2. Pass a positive finite float/int, e.g. 30 (seconds), for every budget parameter.
3. Sanitize loaded config: reject or replace 0/negative/NaN/inf values before constructing the middleware.

Example fix

// before
mw = AutoModeHITLMiddleware(classifier_construction_timeout_seconds=0)  # config default meaning 'unset'
// after
budget = resolve_auto_classifier_timeout(config.get('classifier_timeout'))  # bounds the value
mw = AutoModeHITLMiddleware(classifier_construction_timeout_seconds=budget)

import math
for name, budget in [('classifier_construction_timeout_seconds', cfg.get('classifier_construction_timeout_seconds'))]:
    if budget is not None and (not math.isfinite(budget) or budget <= 0):
        raise ValueError(f'{name} invalid: {budget!r}')

def is_valid_budget(value: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(value, (int, float)) and not isinstance(value, bool) and math.isfinite(value) and value > 0

try:
    mw = AutoModeHITLMiddleware(classifier_construction_timeout_seconds=budget)
except ValueError as e:
    if 'must be a positive finite number' in str(e):
        budget = resolve_auto_classifier_timeout(None)  # fall back to bounded default
        mw = AutoModeHITLMiddleware(classifier_construction_timeout_seconds=budget)
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `classifier_construction_timeout_seconds=0`, a negative number, `float('nan')`, or `float('inf')` (or the same for other budget parameters in the checked list) to `AutoModeHITLMiddleware.__init__`.

Common situations: Loading a timeout from config where 0 means 'no timeout' in another library; YAML/JSON config containing null/NaN; computing a deadline from a clock skew or subtraction that yields a non-positive value; programmatic construction bypassing `resolve_auto_classifier_timeout`, which normally bounds the value.

Related errors

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• Home directory is not absolute: {launch_home}. Set $HOME to
• Invalid {SERVER_ENV_PREFIX}ALLOW_FS_TOOLS value: unknown fil
• Invalid {SERVER_ENV_PREFIX}ALLOW_FS_TOOLS value: {raw!r}; ex
• shell_allow_list must be None or non-empty

AI-assisted analysis of langchain-ai/deepagents@a1af029e6e (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a4ef53ff97d5b45. Report an issue: GitHub.