nexu-io/open-design · error · SystemExit

job {job.get('id')} has an invalid input image entry

Error message

job {job.get('id')} has an invalid input image entry

What it means

Raised by validate_required_grounding() in record_imagegen_result.py when an entry inside a grounded job's input_images is not a dict, or its 'path' field is not a string. Each grounding entry must be an object with a string path so the recorder can resolve run_dir/<path> and confirm the file exists.

Source

Thrown at skills/hatch-pet/scripts/record_imagegen_result.py:118

            "source image does not look like a built-in $imagegen output; expected "
            f"{generated_root}/.../ig_*.png. Do not ingest locally drawn or "
            "post-processed row strips as visual job outputs."
        )
    return "built-in-imagegen"


def validate_required_grounding(job: dict[str, object], run_dir: Path) -> None:
    if job.get("allow_prompt_only_generation") is not False:
        return
    inputs = job.get("input_images")
    if not isinstance(inputs, list) or not inputs:
        raise SystemExit(
            f"job {job.get('id')} does not list input_images; grounded row jobs must attach references"
        )
    missing = []
    for item in inputs:
        if not isinstance(item, dict) or not isinstance(item.get("path"), str):
            raise SystemExit(f"job {job.get('id')} has an invalid input image entry")
        path = run_dir / item["path"]
        if not path.is_file():
            missing.append(str(path))
    if missing:
        raise SystemExit(
            f"job {job.get('id')} is missing required grounding image(s): "
            + ", ".join(missing)
        )


def update_base_canonical_reference(
    *,
    run_dir: Path,
    output: Path,
    manifest: dict[str, object],
    job: dict[str, object],
    metadata: dict[str, object],
) -> None:

View on GitHub (pinned to 5be4028344)

Solutions

1. Wrap each entry as an object: {"path": "references/canonical-base.png"}.
2. Validate: jq '.jobs[] | select(.allow_prompt_only_generation==false) | .input_images[] | .path | type' imagegen-jobs.json.
3. Re-run prepare_pet_run.py --force to regenerate well-formed input_images.
4. Remove malformed entries that are not real grounding references.

Example fix

// before: "input_images": ["references/canonical-base.png"]
// after:  "input_images": [{"path":"references/canonical-base.png"}]

for item in inputs:
    if not isinstance(item, dict) or not isinstance(item.get("path"), str):
        raise SystemExit(f"job {job.get('id')} has a malformed input_images entry: {item!r}")

def is_valid_input_entry(item: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(item, dict) and isinstance(item.get("path"), str)

When it happens

Trigger: input_images contains a bare string path instead of an object; an entry is missing the 'path' key; an entry is null or a number from a hand-edit.

Common situations: Manual schema drift ('I'll just put the path string'); copy-paste from a different manifest format; bad JSON merge.

Related errors

• review does not contain row-level results
• invalid imagegen-jobs.json: jobs must be a list
• unknown row job id: {state}
• invalid imagegen-jobs.json: jobs must be a list
• unknown job id: {job_id}

AI-assisted analysis of nexu-io/open-design@5be4028344 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2b8acc2e27177e26. Report an issue: GitHub.