openai/codex · error · anyhow::Error

Prettier failed with status {status}

Error message

Prettier failed with status {status}

What it means

After writing the .ts files, generate_ts_with_options runs the caller-supplied Prettier binary with --write --log-level warn over all generated files. A non-zero exit produces this error. A missing or unlaunchable binary produces a different error (Failed to invoke Prettier at ...); this one means Prettier ran and exited non-zero, almost always because at least one generated file contains TypeScript that Prettier cannot parse.

Source

Thrown at codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/export.rs:182

            Ok(())
        })?;
    }

    // Optionally run Prettier on all generated TS files.
    if options.run_prettier
        && let Some(prettier_bin) = prettier
        && !ts_files.is_empty()
    {
        let status = Command::new(prettier_bin)
            .arg("--write")
            .arg("--log-level")
            .arg("warn")
            .args(ts_files.iter().map(|p| p.as_os_str()))
            .status()
            .with_context(|| format!("Failed to invoke Prettier at {}", prettier_bin.display()))?;
        if !status.success() {
            return Err(anyhow!("Prettier failed with status {status}"));
        }
    }

    trim_trailing_whitespace_in_ts_files(&ts_files)?;

    Ok(())
}

pub fn generate_json(out_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
    generate_json_with_experimental(out_dir, /*experimental_api*/ false)
}

pub fn generate_internal_json_schema(out_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
    ensure_dir(out_dir)?;
    write_json_schema::<RolloutLine>(out_dir, "RolloutLine")?;
    Ok(())
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 339751715c)

Solutions

1. Run Prettier manually over the output tree to get the failing file and parse error, for example npx prettier --write 'codex-rs/app-server-protocol/ts/**/*.ts'.
2. Open the file Prettier names: invalid generated TS means the exporting Rust type or its derive needs fixing, not the formatter.
3. Upgrade the Prettier binary passed to generate_ts_with_options if it predates the emitted syntax.
4. To isolate export from formatting during debugging only, pass GenerateTsOptions with run_prettier false.

Example fix

// before
let opts = GenerateTsOptions::default(); // run_prettier: true

// after (debugging: decouple export from formatting)
let opts = GenerateTsOptions {
    run_prettier: false,
    ..GenerateTsOptions::default()
};
// then format by hand to see which file fails to parse:
//   npx prettier --write "codex-rs/app-server-protocol/ts/**/*.ts"

// Verify the Prettier binary before running the export:
let status = std::process::Command::new(&prettier_bin)
    .arg("--version")
    .status()
    .with_context(|| format!("prettier unusable at {}", prettier_bin.display()))?;
if !status.success() {
    return Err(anyhow!("prettier --version failed; fix the toolchain first"));
}

if let Err(err) = generate_ts_with_options(out_dir, Some(&prettier_bin), opts) {
    if err.to_string().contains("Prettier failed with status") {
        // Generated TS likely has a syntax error: run Prettier manually on
        // out_dir to get the file and parse error, then fix the exporting type.
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the TS export with run_prettier true when generated output is syntactically invalid (a protocol type whose TS derive emitted broken syntax), or when the pinned Prettier is too old for the emitted syntax; with log-level warn, the parse error is the visible stderr output.

Common situations: Adding or editing a protocol type whose generated TS breaks the parser; a stale pinned Prettier in node_modules after syntax changes; CI resolving a different Prettier version than local runs.

Related errors

• TypeScript header worker panicked
• expected bundle root to be an object
• expected bundle definitions map
• expected v2 namespace in bundle definitions

AI-assisted analysis of openai/codex@339751715c (2026-08-25). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d2dd15a9c7098b9. Report an issue: GitHub.