overleaf/overleaf · error · Error

missing filename

Error message

missing filename

What it means

The script reads its only required CLI argument (process.argv[2]) as the path to a file of user IDs; if no argument is supplied it throws 'missing filename'. This is a fail-fast guard before any file I/O or DB access. It indicates the script was invoked without the expected positional argument.

Source

Thrown at services/web/scripts/clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs:76

  try {
    await UserSessionsManager.promises.removeSessionsFromRedis(
      { _id: userId },
      null
    )
  } catch (error) {
    console.log(`Failed to clear sessions for ${userId}`, error)
    processLogger.failedClear.push(userId)
    return
  }
  processLogger.success.push(userId)
}

async function _loopUsers(userIds) {
  return promiseMapWithLimit(ASYNC_LIMIT, userIds, _handleUser)
}

const fileName = process.argv[2]
if (!fileName) throw new Error('missing filename')
const usersFile = fs.readFileSync(fileName, 'utf8')
const userIds = usersFile
  .trim()
  .split('\n')
  .map(id => id.trim())

async function processUsers(userIds) {
  console.log('---Starting set_must_reconfirm script---')
  _validateUserIdList(userIds)
  console.log(`---Starting to process ${userIds.length} users---`)
  await _loopUsers(userIds)

  processLogger.printSummary()
  process.exit()
}

processUsers(userIds)

View on GitHub (pinned to 28ad3b03b7)

Solutions

1. Pass the file as the first positional argument: node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs path/to/users.txt.
2. If using npm scripts, add -- before the filename so it forwards arguments: npm run script -- users.txt.
3. Check the run configuration/wrapper actually forwards the argument to the node process.
4. Add an explicit usage message if this is your fork: print usage when !fileName instead of throwing bare.

Example fix

// before
node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs
// after
node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs ./users.txt

if (process.argv.length < 3 || !process.argv[2]) {
  console.error('usage: node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs <users-file>')
  process.exit(1)
}

const hasArgs = (argv) => Array.isArray(argv) && typeof argv[2] === 'string' && argv[2].length > 0

try {
  await main()
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message === 'missing filename') {
    console.error('usage: node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs <users-file>')
    process.exitCode = 1
  } else throw err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `node clear_sessions_set_must_reconfirm.mjs` with no arguments, or passing flags (e.g. `-f users.txt`) that minimist-style parsing would consume but argv[2] does not hold, or running it from a wrapper that drops arguments.

Common situations: Forgetting the argument after copy-pasting docs; an npm/Make wrapper swallowing args; IDE run configurations with an empty 'arguments' field; calling the script programmatically without simulating argv.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• missing parameter --${flag}
• missing ids list filename
• provide a valid object id as --project-id, --doc-id and --us
• Date must be in YYYY-MM-DD format
• invalid ?editorId

AI-assisted analysis of overleaf/overleaf@28ad3b03b7 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8f91123eef399c32. Report an issue: GitHub.