n8n-io/n8n · error · Error

Invalid integer for ${flagName}

Error message

Invalid integer for ${flagName}

What it means

Thrown by the parseIntArg() helper (args.ts:536) when parseInt(raw, 10) returns NaN for a flag that expects an integer. The raw value is intentionally not echoed in the message, because a bad shell expansion could leak a secret into the terminal/CI log. Affected flags: --timeout-ms, --iterations, --concurrency, --build-max-attempts, --build-mcp-timeout-ms, --build-timeout-ms.

Source

Thrown at packages/@n8n/instance-ai/evaluations/cli/args.ts:536

// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Helpers
// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

function nextArg(argv: string[], currentIndex: number, flagName: string): string {
	const value = argv[currentIndex + 1];
	if (value === undefined || value.startsWith('--')) {
		throw new Error(`Missing value for ${flagName}`);
	}
	return value;
}

function parseIntArg(argv: string[], currentIndex: number, flagName: string): number {
	const raw = nextArg(argv, currentIndex, flagName);
	const parsed = parseInt(raw, 10);
	if (Number.isNaN(parsed)) {
		// Don't echo raw — a bad shell expansion could leak a secret here.
		throw new Error(`Invalid integer for ${flagName}`);
	}
	return parsed;
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 5ac6606e81)

Solutions

1. Provide a valid base-10 integer with no units or suffixes (e.g. 300000 for milliseconds).
2. Verify any shell variables used for numeric flags are set: `echo "${ITERATIONS:?unset}"`.
3. Check units: --timeout-ms and --build-timeout-ms are milliseconds, not seconds.

Example fix

// before
pnpm eval:instance-ai --timeout-ms 30s
// after
pnpm eval:instance-ai --timeout-ms 30000

const INT_FLAGS = new Set(['--timeout-ms','--iterations','--concurrency','--build-max-attempts','--build-mcp-timeout-ms','--build-timeout-ms']);
function validateIntFlags(args: string[]): void {
  for (let i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
    if (INT_FLAGS.has(args[i].split('=',1)[0])) {
      const v = args[i + 1];
      if (v === undefined || !/^\d+$/.test(v)) {
        throw new Error(`Invalid integer for ${args[i]}: ${v === undefined ? '(missing)' : v}`);
      }
    }
  }
}

function isIntegerFlagValue(v: string): boolean {
  return /^\d+$/.test(v);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a non-numeric value (a word, a float with junk, an empty expansion, or a shell variable that resolved to nothing) to an integer flag. For example `--iterations abc`, `--concurrency $MISSING_VAR`, or `--timeout-ms 1e6` (exponential notation may fail depending on parseInt behavior). Note: parseInt('123abc') returns 123, so partial-numeric values may slip through; only fully non-numeric prefixes trip NaN.

Common situations: A shell variable for a numeric setting is unset or misspelled, a value was copy-pasted with a unit suffix (e.g. 30s instead of 30000ms), or a decimal was passed where an int was expected and the leading part was non-numeric.

Related errors

• Unknown flag: ${flagName}
• Unexpected positional argument
• Unknown flag: ${arg.split('=', 1)[0]} (use --help)
• --delete-prebuilt-workflows applies to --prebuilt-workflows.
• ${[...new Set(raw.buildOnlyFlags)].join(', ')} only take${ra

AI-assisted analysis of n8n-io/n8n@5ac6606e81 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d4e559356064f5c. Report an issue: GitHub.