What causes "The value '{0}' is not valid for {1}." in microsoft/aspire?

Fix the --option value passed on the command line so it passes the symbol's validator

microsoft/aspire · error · NonInteractiveException

The value ' ' is not valid for .

Error message

The value '{0}' is not valid for {1}.

What it means

When the CLI runs non-interactively (no TTY), ConsoleInteractionService validates each prompt-bound value with the symbol's validator. If the validator rejects the value, it displays this formatted message naming the value and the option's display name, then throws NonInteractiveException to abort the command instead of looping on a prompt that cannot be shown.

Solutions

Fix the --option value passed on the command line so it passes the symbol's validator
Run the command interactively once to see which values are accepted, then reuse them in the script
Inspect the validator for the symbol to learn the accepted format

Example fix

// before
aspire add redis --name "my cache!"
// after
aspire add redis --name myCache

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value) || !allowedRegex.IsMatch(value))
    throw new ArgumentException($"'{value}' is not a valid value for the option.");

Try / catch

try { await cli.InvokeAsync(args); }
catch (NonInteractiveException ex) { logger.LogError(ex, "Non-interactive value rejected: {Msg}", ex.Message); }

Prevention

Validate option values in scripts before passing them to the CLI
Avoid running value-heavy prompts in CI; prefer flags with pre-checked values
After CLI upgrades, re-verify choice/validator constraints still accept your values

When it happens

Trigger: Calling an Aspire CLI command non-interactively (e.g. piped stdin or CI) with an --option value that fails the symbol's validator function passed to the prompt/interaction API.

Common situations: CI scripts or shell pipelines passing typoed or malformed option values; validators added to prompts that existing scripts' values no longer satisfy; values containing characters the validator rejects.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/aspire@25830f84bd (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ae669c85069e1294. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/Aspire.Cli/Interaction/ConsoleInteractionService.cs:829

    {
        DisplayError(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InteractionServiceStrings.NonInteractiveOptionRequired, symbolDisplayName));
        throw new NonInteractiveException(symbolDisplayName);
    }

    internal void ValidateResolvedStringValue(string value, bool required, Func<string, ValidationResult>? validator, string symbolDisplayName)
    {
        if (required && string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
        {
            ThrowNonInteractiveError(symbolDisplayName);
        }

        if (validator is not null)
        {
            var result = validator(value);
            if (!result.Successful)
            {
                DisplayError(result.Message ?? string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InteractionServiceStrings.NonInteractiveInvalidValue, value, symbolDisplayName));
                throw new NonInteractiveException(symbolDisplayName);
            }
        }
    }

    [DoesNotReturn]
    internal void ThrowNonInteractiveInvalidValue<T>(string value, string symbolDisplayName, IEnumerable<T> choices, Func<T, string> choiceFormatter) where T : notnull
    {
        DisplayError(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InteractionServiceStrings.NonInteractiveInvalidValue, value, symbolDisplayName));
        // Strip Spectre markup from each formatted choice so non-interactive callers see plain
        // text. Some choice formatters intentionally include [bold]/[dim]/etc. tokens for the
        // interactive multi-select renderer; those tokens would otherwise leak verbatim through
        // DisplaySubtleMessage and confuse anyone diagnosing a typoed --option value.
        var availableChoices = string.Join(", ", choices.Select(c => StringUtils.RemoveMarkup(choiceFormatter(c))));
        DisplaySubtleMessage(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, InteractionServiceStrings.NonInteractiveAvailableValues, availableChoices));
        throw new NonInteractiveException(symbolDisplayName);
    }

    internal T MatchChoiceOrThrow<T>(string value, PromptBinding<string?> binding, IEnumerable<T> choices, Func<T, string> choiceFormatter) where T : notnull

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