openai/codex · error · anyhow::Error

guardian assessment was not valid JSON

Error message

guardian assessment was not valid JSON

What it means

Error "guardian assessment was not valid JSON" thrown in openai/codex.

Source

Thrown at codex-rs/core/src/guardian/prompt.rs:719

/// The model is asked for strict JSON, but we still accept a surrounding prose
/// wrapper so transient formatting drift fails less noisily during dogfooding.
/// Non-JSON output is still a review failure; this is only a thin recovery path
/// for cases where the model wrapped the JSON in extra prose.
pub(crate) fn parse_guardian_assessment(text: Option<&str>) -> anyhow::Result<GuardianAssessment> {
    let Some(text) = text else {
        anyhow::bail!("guardian review completed without an assessment payload");
    };
    let parsed_payload =
        if let Ok(payload) = serde_json::from_str::<GuardianAssessmentPayload>(text) {
            payload
        } else if let (Some(start), Some(end)) = (text.find('{'), text.rfind('}'))
            && start < end
            && let Some(slice) = text.get(start..=end)
        {
            serde_json::from_str::<GuardianAssessmentPayload>(slice)?
        } else {
            anyhow::bail!("guardian assessment was not valid JSON");
        };

    let outcome = parsed_payload.outcome;
    let risk_level = parsed_payload.risk_level.unwrap_or(match outcome {
        super::GuardianAssessmentOutcome::Allow => GuardianRiskLevel::Low,
        super::GuardianAssessmentOutcome::Deny => GuardianRiskLevel::High,
    });
    let rationale = parsed_payload
        .rationale
        .filter(|rationale| !rationale.trim().is_empty())
        .unwrap_or_else(|| match outcome {
            super::GuardianAssessmentOutcome::Allow => {
                "Auto-review returned a low-risk allow decision.".to_string()
            }
            super::GuardianAssessmentOutcome::Deny => {
                "Auto-review returned a deny decision without a rationale.".to_string()
            }
        });

View on GitHub (pinned to 339751715c)

Solutions

1. Retry the guardian review; the assessment response was not valid JSON.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at codex-rs/core/src/guardian/prompt.rs:719 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of openai/codex@339751715c (2026-08-25). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a779903330b26e44. Report an issue: GitHub.