paperclipai/paperclip · error

Catalog skill reference is required.

Error message

Catalog skill reference is required.

What it means

getCatalogSkill trimmed the catalog reference argument to an empty string, so there is no catalog skill id/key/slug to look up.

Solutions

1. Provide a catalog skill reference (slug or key).

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/skills.ts:596 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@120ae5428f (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/27694f5f76dbc249. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/skills.ts:596

  return (await ctx.api.get<CompanySkillListItem[]>(`/api/companies/${ctx.companyId}/skills`)) ?? [];
}

async function listCatalogSkills(
  ctx: ResolvedClientContext,
  opts: CatalogBrowseOptions,
): Promise<CatalogSkill[]> {
  const params = new URLSearchParams();
  appendQueryParam(params, "kind", opts.kind);
  appendQueryParam(params, "category", opts.category);
  appendQueryParam(params, "q", opts.query);
  const query = params.toString();
  return (await ctx.api.get<CatalogSkill[]>(`/api/skills/catalog${query ? `?${query}` : ""}`)) ?? [];
}

async function getCatalogSkill(ctx: ResolvedClientContext, catalogRef: string): Promise<CatalogSkill> {
  const ref = catalogRef.trim();
  if (!ref) {
    throw new Error("Catalog skill reference is required.");
  }
  const detail = await ctx.api.get<CatalogSkill>(`/api/skills/catalog/ref?ref=${encodeURIComponent(ref)}`);
  if (!detail) {
    throw new Error(`Catalog skill not found: ${catalogRef}`);
  }
  return detail;
}

export function resolveCompanySkillReference(
  skills: CompanySkillReferenceTarget[],
  reference: string,
): CompanySkillReferenceTarget {
  const trimmed = reference.trim();
  if (!trimmed) {
    throw new Error("Skill reference is required.");
  }

  const byId = skills.find((skill) => skill.id === trimmed);

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