microsoft/autogen · error · InvalidOperationException

Invalid Role

Error message

Invalid Role

What it means

Error "Invalid Role" thrown in microsoft/autogen.

Source

Thrown at dotnet/src/AutoGen.AzureAIInference/Middleware/AzureAIInferenceChatRequestMessageConnector.cs:214

    private IEnumerable<ChatRequestMessage> ProcessTextMessage(IAgent agent, TextMessage message)
    {
        if (message.Role == Role.System)
        {
            return [new ChatRequestSystemMessage(message.Content)];
        }

        if (agent.Name == message.From)
        {
            return [new ChatRequestAssistantMessage { Content = message.Content }];
        }
        else
        {
            return message.From switch
            {
                null when message.Role == Role.User => [new ChatRequestUserMessage(message.Content)],
                null when message.Role == Role.Assistant => [new ChatRequestAssistantMessage() { Content = message.Content }],
                null => throw new InvalidOperationException("Invalid Role"),
                _ => [new ChatRequestUserMessage(message.Content)]
            };
        }
    }

    private IEnumerable<ChatRequestMessage> ProcessImageMessage(IAgent agent, ImageMessage message)
    {
        if (agent.Name == message.From)
        {
            // image message from assistant is not supported
            throw new ArgumentException("ImageMessage is not supported when message.From is the same with agent");
        }

        var imageContentItem = this.CreateChatMessageImageContentItemFromImageMessage(message);
        return [new ChatRequestUserMessage([imageContentItem])];
    }

    private IEnumerable<ChatRequestMessage> ProcessMultiModalMessage(IAgent agent, MultiModalMessage message)

View on GitHub (pinned to 027ecf0a37)

Solutions

1. Use user/assistant/system roles only

Example fix

Normalize roles to the supported set before conversion

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at dotnet/src/AutoGen.AzureAIInference/Middleware/AzureAIInferenceChatRequestMessageConnector.cs:214 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/autogen@027ecf0a37 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c1a8a91df79c8244. Report an issue: GitHub.