mvanhorn/last30days-skill · error · ValueError

subqueries[{index}] must be an object

Error message

subqueries[{index}] must be an object

What it means

Per-item check in validate_external_plan: each element of subqueries must itself be a dict/object. A bare string query, null entry, or nested list fails with the offending index in the message, making it easy to locate the bad element.

Source

Thrown at skills/last30days/scripts/lib/planner.py:194

            raise ValueError(f"field '{field}' must be a non-empty string")

    source_weights = raw.get("source_weights")
    if source_weights is not None and not isinstance(source_weights, dict):
        raise ValueError("field 'source_weights' must be an object when provided")
    for source, weight in (source_weights or {}).items():
        if (
            not isinstance(source, str)
            or not source.strip()
            or isinstance(weight, bool)
            or not isinstance(weight, (int, float))
        ):
            raise ValueError("field 'source_weights' must map source names to numbers")
    subqueries = raw["subqueries"]
    if not isinstance(subqueries, list) or not subqueries:
        raise ValueError("field 'subqueries' must be a non-empty array")
    for index, subquery in enumerate(subqueries):
        if not isinstance(subquery, dict):
            raise ValueError(f"subqueries[{index}] must be an object")
        for field in ("search_query", "ranking_query"):
            if not isinstance(subquery.get(field), str) or not subquery[field].strip():
                raise ValueError(f"subqueries[{index}].{field} must be a non-empty string")
        sources = subquery.get("sources")
        if not isinstance(sources, list) or not sources or not all(
            isinstance(source, str) and source.strip() for source in sources
        ):
            raise ValueError(f"subqueries[{index}].sources must be a non-empty string array")
        weight = subquery.get("weight")
        if weight is not None and (
            isinstance(weight, bool) or not isinstance(weight, (int, float))
        ):
            raise ValueError(f"subqueries[{index}].weight must be a number when provided")


DEFAULT_INTENT_CAPABILITIES = {
    "comparison": {"discussion", "video", "web", "reference", "social", "link", "market"},
    "how_to": {"discussion", "video", "web", "reference", "link"},

View on GitHub (pinned to c7460f6114)

Solutions

1. Wrap bare strings into objects: {"search_query": s, "ranking_query": s, "sources": ["reddit"]}.
2. Filter out None entries before submission: [q for q in subqueries if q].
3. Check the index named in the error message first.

Example fix

# before
"subqueries": ["rust compilers 2026"]

# after
"subqueries": [{"search_query": "rust compilers 2026", "ranking_query": "rust compiler release", "sources": ["reddit"]}]

plan["subqueries"] = [q for q in plan["subqueries"] if isinstance(q, dict)]
if not plan["subqueries"]:
    raise SystemExit("no valid subquery objects after filtering")

def is_subquery_object(v) -> bool:
    return isinstance(v, dict)

When it happens

Trigger: "subqueries": ["rust compilers", {...}] — the first element is a string, not an object; or a null element from a generator that skipped an item.

Common situations: LLMs sometimes emit shorthand string queries instead of full objects; list filtering leaves None placeholders; copy-paste of a query string into the array.

Related errors

• top-level plan must be an object
• missing required field '{field}'
• field '{field}' must be a non-empty string
• field 'source_weights' must be an object when provided
• field 'source_weights' must map source names to numbers

AI-assisted analysis of mvanhorn/last30days-skill@c7460f6114 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a0465c3dbf36da72. Report an issue: GitHub.