multica-ai/multica · error

--custom-args must be a valid JSON array of strings

Error message

--custom-args must be a valid JSON array of strings

What it means

Error "--custom-args must be a valid JSON array of strings" thrown in multica-ai/multica.

Source

Thrown at server/cmd/multica/cmd_agent.go:1228

	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(raw), &ce); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--custom-env must be a valid JSON object of string keys and string values")
	}
	if ce == nil {
		ce = map[string]string{}
	}
	return ce, nil
}

// parseCustomArgs parses the --custom-args flag value (a JSON array of
// CLI argument strings). The error message is content-free for the same
// reason as parseCustomEnv: although custom_args is not a dedicated
// secret channel today, it routinely carries values like "--api-key=…"
// for runtime providers, and json.Unmarshal errors can echo short
// fragments of malformed input.
func parseCustomArgs(raw string) ([]string, error) {
	var ca []string
	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(raw), &ca); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--custom-args must be a valid JSON array of strings")
	}
	return ca, nil
}

// resolveCustomEnv collects the --custom-env, --custom-env-stdin, and
// --custom-env-file flags and returns the parsed map, a bool indicating
// whether the caller supplied any of them, and any error. The three input
// channels are mutually exclusive so callers can't accidentally provide a
// secret twice. Stdin and file inputs exist to keep secret material out of
// shell history and 'ps' / /proc/<pid>/cmdline.
func resolveCustomEnv(cmd *cobra.Command) (map[string]string, bool, error) {
	inline := cmd.Flags().Changed("custom-env")
	fromStdin, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("custom-env-stdin")
	filePath, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("custom-env-file")
	// Note: an explicit --custom-env-file "" is honored as "the user asked
	// for this channel with an empty path" and surfaces a real error below,
	// rather than being silently swallowed.
	fromFile := cmd.Flags().Changed("custom-env-file")

View on GitHub (pinned to 2c0912b6ec)

Solutions

1. Pass a valid JSON array of strings for --custom-args.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/cmd/multica/cmd_agent.go:1228 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of multica-ai/multica@2c0912b6ec (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/659eabf19be9bd46. Report an issue: GitHub.