What causes "--name is required" in multica-ai/multica?

Pass a non-empty name: `multica workspace create --name "My Team" --slug my-team`.

--name is required

Error message

--name is required

What it means

`multica workspace create` requires an explicit --name; buildWorkspaceCreateBody rejects a missing or whitespace-only value before any network call. The server mandates the field, so the CLI validates locally to fail fast.

Source

Thrown at server/cmd/multica/cmd_workspace.go:285

		}
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n", marker, displayID(ws.ID, fullID), ws.Name, ws.Slug)
	}
	if err := w.Flush(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if currentID != "" {
		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "\n* = current default workspace (use 'multica workspace switch <id|slug|prefix>' to change)")
	} else {
		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "\nNo default workspace set. Use 'multica workspace switch <id|slug|prefix>' to pick one.")
	}
	fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Tip: pass the ID column, SLUG, or full UUID (--full-id) to 'workspace get/update/switch'.")
	return nil
}

func buildWorkspaceCreateBody(cmd *cobra.Command) (map[string]any, error) {
	name, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("name")
	if strings.TrimSpace(name) == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--name is required")
	}

	// The server requires both name and slug (POST /api/workspaces returns 400
	// without them) and the slug is immutable after creation, so it must be
	// chosen explicitly here rather than silently omitted.
	slug, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("slug")
	if strings.TrimSpace(slug) == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--slug is required")
	}

	// A single stdin stream cannot feed two fields: whichever field reads first
	// drains it and the other gets EOF. Reject the ambiguous combination up
	// front instead of surfacing a misleading "content is empty" error.
	descStdin, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("description-stdin")
	ctxStdin, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool("context-stdin")
	if descStdin && ctxStdin {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--description-stdin and --context-stdin cannot be combined; a single stdin cannot feed both fields — pass one of them inline")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2c0912b6ec)

Solutions

Pass a non-empty name: `multica workspace create --name "My Team" --slug my-team`.
In scripts, check the variable is non-empty before invoking (e.g. `: "${NAME:?name required}"`).

Example fix

# before
multica workspace create --slug my-team

# after
multica workspace create --name "My Team" --slug my-team

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

: "${NAME:?--name is required}"
multica workspace create --name "$NAME" --slug "$SLUG"

Prevention

Use shell parameter expansion guards (`:?`) for required script inputs.
Trim and check name/slug before composing the command line.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `multica workspace create --slug my-team` without --name, or with `--name " "` (trimmed to empty).

Common situations: Scripts where the name variable is empty due to a skipped prompt or a typo'd variable name.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of multica-ai/multica@2c0912b6ec (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d803e57d059be7ee. Report an issue: GitHub.