microsoft/aspire · error · InvalidOperationException

BrowserMessageStrings.BrowserLogsEmptyProfileConfiguration

Error message

BrowserMessageStrings.BrowserLogsEmptyProfileConfiguration

What it means

During browser-logs configuration resolution, the 'profile' value, when explicitly provided, must be non-whitespace. Resolve detects a present-but-empty profile (resolvedProfile is not null but whitespace) and throws using the localized string BrowserLogsEmptyProfileConfiguration, because an empty profile name cannot identify a persistent browser user-data profile.

Solutions

Provide a real profile name, e.g. profile = "my-debug-profile", or remove the profile key entirely to use the default profile.
Check the environment variable/config source is omitted (not set to empty) when the profile is not needed.
Trim and validate the profile value before passing it into the browser-logs builder.
Review template substitution that may inject empty strings for missing variables.

Example fix

// before
["profile"] = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("BROWSER_PROFILE") ?? "" // empty when unset

// after
var profile = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("BROWSER_PROFILE");
var config = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(profile)
    ? new Dictionary<string, string?>() // omit key entirely
    : new Dictionary<string, string?> { ["profile"] = profile };

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

var profile = config["profile"];
if (profile is not null && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(profile))
    throw new ArgumentException("Profile, when set, must be non-empty. Omit the key to use the default.");

Try / catch

try { BrowserConfiguration.Resolve(...); }
catch (InvalidOperationException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("profile configuration"))
{ logger.LogError(ex, "Profile key set to empty; provide a name or omit it"); throw; }

Prevention

Omit the profile key instead of assigning an empty string.
Guard environment-variable substitution so unset variables drop the key.
Trim user-supplied profile names before wiring config.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a ProfileConfigurationKey entry with an empty/whitespace string value into WithBrowserLogs, or setting the profile key via configuration (env var/app config) to "" or spaces.

Common situations: YAML/env templating where an unset variable resolves to an empty string instead of being omitted; copy-paste of profile config with the value left blank; downstream tooling writing empty values for optional keys.

Understand the failure class

Background: "must not be empty", "cannot be empty" — required-field validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/aspire@25830f84bd (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e1e4abfd304446e3. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Aspire.Hosting.Browsers/BrowserConfiguration.cs:62

        var browserLogsSection = configuration.GetSection(BrowserLogsBuilderExtensions.BrowserLogsConfigurationSectionName);
        var resourceSection = browserLogsSection.GetSection(resourceName);

        // Resolution order is explicit argument -> resource-specific config -> global browser-log config -> default.
        // Resolve user-data mode before browser so the browser default can prefer Edge for shared state and Chrome for
        // disposable isolated state.
        var resolvedProfile = ResolveProfile(explicitValues, resourceRuntimeConfiguration, globalRuntimeConfiguration, resourceSection, browserLogsSection);
        var resolvedUserDataMode = ResolveUserDataMode(explicitValues, resourceRuntimeConfiguration, globalRuntimeConfiguration, resourceSection, browserLogsSection);
        var resolvedBrowser = ResolveBrowser(explicitValues, resourceRuntimeConfiguration, globalRuntimeConfiguration, resourceSection, browserLogsSection, resolvedUserDataMode);

        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(resolvedBrowser))
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException(BrowserMessageStrings.BrowserLogsEmptyBrowserConfiguration);
        }

        if (resolvedProfile is not null && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(resolvedProfile))
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException(BrowserMessageStrings.BrowserLogsEmptyProfileConfiguration);
        }

        if (resolvedUserDataMode == BrowserUserDataMode.Isolated && resolvedProfile is not null)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException(
                string.Format(
                    CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
                    BrowserMessageStrings.BrowserLogsProfileRequiresSharedUserDataMode,
                    BrowserLogsBuilderExtensions.ProfileConfigurationKey,
                    resolvedProfile,
                    BrowserLogsBuilderExtensions.UserDataModeConfigurationKey,
                    BrowserUserDataMode.Isolated,
                    BrowserUserDataMode.Shared));
        }

        // Stable per-AppHost key sourced from DistributedApplicationBuilder. Only Isolated mode actually needs it
        // (its user-data path includes the AppHost segment), but it is always captured here so the registry never
        // has to re-read configuration. The same SHA value is used for other per-AppHost persisted state.

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