nanocoai/nanoclaw · error · Error

--user is required

Error message

--user is required

What it means

Thrown by `ncl members add` when the --user flag is missing. The handler inserts into agent_group_members, which requires a user_id in the form <channel>:<handle> (e.g. telegram:alice).

Source

Thrown at src/cli/resources/members.ts:39

      description: 'The agent group to grant access to. Must reference an existing agent group (agent_groups.id).',
    },
    {
      name: 'added_by',
      type: 'string',
      description: 'User ID of whoever added this member. Informational — not enforced.',
    },
    { name: 'added_at', type: 'string', description: 'ISO 8601 timestamp of when the membership was granted.' },
  ],
  operations: { list: 'open' },
  customOperations: {
    add: {
      access: 'approval',
      description: 'Add a user as a member of an agent group. Use --user and --group.',
      handler: async (args) => {
        const userId = args.user as string;
        const groupId = args.group as string;
        const addedBy = (args.added_by as string) ?? null;
        if (!userId) throw new Error('--user is required');
        if (!groupId) throw new Error('--group is required');
        await getDb().run(
          `INSERT INTO agent_group_members (user_id, agent_group_id, added_by, added_at)
             VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)
             ON CONFLICT (user_id, agent_group_id) DO NOTHING`,
          userId,
          groupId,
          addedBy,
          new Date().toISOString(),
        );
        return { user_id: userId, agent_group_id: groupId };
      },
    },
    remove: {
      access: 'approval',
      description: 'Remove a user from an agent group. Use --user and --group.',
      handler: async (args) => {
        const userId = args.user as string;

View on GitHub (pinned to 294ef2aee8)

Solutions

1. Pass --user with the channel-qualified id: `ncl members add --user telegram:alice --group <gid>`
2. Find the exact id via `ncl users list` if unsure of the format

Example fix

// before
ncl members add --group grp1
// after
ncl members add --user telegram:alice --group grp1

if (!userId?.includes(':')) throw new Error('expected --user <channel>:<handle>');

const isQualifiedUserId = (s) => /^[a-z0-9-]+:[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+$/.test(s);

When it happens

Trigger: Running `ncl members add --group <gid>` without --user, or passing the user id via the wrong flag name.

Common situations: Operator forgets the user id must be the fully-qualified channel-prefixed id and skips it, or scripts the call with an empty variable ($USER empty).

Related errors

• --group is required
• ${def.name} id is required
• --${col.name.replace(/_/g, '-')} is required
• --folder is required
• --id is required

AI-assisted analysis of nanocoai/nanoclaw@294ef2aee8 (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f314aa2a9020382. Report an issue: GitHub.