oraios/serena · error · ValueError

Invalid topic: {topic}

Error message

Invalid topic: {topic}

What it means

The GetInfoWorkflowTool (workflow_tools) apply method serves a fixed set of info topics via a match statement; any topic outside the enumerated cases raises ValueError 'Invalid topic: ...'. The docstring states the topic must have been given explicitly to the agent.

Source

Thrown at src/serena/tools/workflow_tools.py:63

        """
        return self.agent.create_system_prompt(session_id=session_id)


class SerenaInfoTool(Tool, ToolMarkerOptional, ToolMarkerDoesNotRequireActiveProject):
    """
    Provides information about an advanced topic on demand, facilitating context-efficiency.
    """

    def apply(self, topic: str) -> str:
        """
        Retrieves Serena-specific information
        :param topic: the topic, which you must have been given explicitly
        """
        match topic:
            case "jet_brains_debug_repl":
                return self.agent.prompt_factory.create_info_jet_brains_debug_repl()
            case _:
                raise ValueError("Invalid topic: " + topic)

View on GitHub (pinned to 7fcbca7e62)

Solutions

1. Use exactly a supported topic string, e.g. topic='jet_brains_debug_repl'
2. Check the match statement in workflow_tools.py for the current list of valid topics
3. If you need info about something else, use the appropriate tool instead of get_info
4. Catch ValueError and surface the valid topic list to the caller

Example fix

// before
info = get_info_tool.apply(topic='debugging')
// after
info = get_info_tool.apply(topic='jet_brains_debug_repl')

VALID_TOPICS = {"jet_brains_debug_repl"}
if topic not in VALID_TOPICS:
    raise ValueError(f"topic must be one of {sorted(VALID_TOPICS)}")

from typing import Literal
Topic = Literal["jet_brains_debug_repl"]
def is_valid_topic(t: str) -> bool:
    return t in Topic.__args__

try:
    info = tool.apply(topic=topic)
except ValueError:
    info = None  # inform the agent of valid topics

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the get_info tool with topic values other than the supported ones (e.g. anything besides 'jet_brains_debug_repl'), often from an agent guessing a topic name.

Common situations: Agents inventing topic strings like 'debugging' or 'config'; outdated prompts referencing topics removed in newer Serena versions.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Tool named '{tool_name}' not found.
• Invalid tool name: {tool_name}{caller_context_for_logging}
• Pass either content or source_file_path
• Invalid glob brace expression in {pattern!r}: empty braces a
• Invalid glob brace expression in {pattern!r}: unmatched brac

AI-assisted analysis of oraios/serena@7fcbca7e62 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/124773c7aa3ebbe5. Report an issue: GitHub.