odysseus-dev/odysseus · error · HTTPException

AI returned invalid JSON for auto-sort — the model may not f

Error message

AI returned invalid JSON for auto-sort — the model may not follow JSON instructions; try a different utility model in Settings.

What it means

Error "AI returned invalid JSON for auto-sort — the model may not follow JSON instructions; try a different utility model in Settings." thrown in odysseus-dev/odysseus.

Source

Thrown at routes/session_routes.py:1260

                    except json.JSONDecodeError:
                        continue
                return None

            result = _loads_lenient(text)
            # Markdown code fence
            if result is None:
                fence_match = re.search(r'```(?:json)?\s*\n?([\s\S]*?)```', text)
                if fence_match:
                    result = _loads_lenient(fence_match.group(1).strip())
            # First { … last } block
            if result is None:
                brace_start = text.find('{')
                brace_end = text.rfind('}')
                if brace_start >= 0 and brace_end > brace_start:
                    result = _loads_lenient(text[brace_start:brace_end + 1])
            if result is None:
                logger.error(f"Auto-sort: could not parse JSON from: {text[:500]}")
                raise HTTPException(502, "AI returned invalid JSON for auto-sort — the model may not follow JSON instructions; try a different utility model in Settings.")
        except HTTPException:
            raise
        except Exception as e:
            logger.error(f"Auto-sort LLM call failed: {e}")
            raise HTTPException(502, f"Auto-sort failed: {str(e)}")

        folders = result.get("folders", {})
        if not folders:
            return {"status": "skipped", "reason": "AI found no groupings"}

        # Build id -> folder map
        id_prefix_map = {s["id"][:8]: s["id"] for s in session_list}
        assignments = {}
        for folder_name, ids in folders.items():
            for sid_or_prefix in ids:
                # Match by full ID or prefix
                full_id = None
                if sid_or_prefix in id_prefix_map.values():

View on GitHub (pinned to f9235ebbf1)

Solutions

1. Try a different utility model in Settings that follows JSON instructions.
2. Retry auto-sort; the model output may parse on a second attempt.

When it happens

Trigger: Triggered when the corresponding server-side validation or runtime check at the recorded location rejects the request or operation and returns this error message to the caller.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

AI-assisted analysis of odysseus-dev/odysseus@f9235ebbf1 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/51a21f4629e29d15. Report an issue: GitHub.