paperclipai/paperclip · error · Error

GitHub returned an invalid response while resolving ${repo}@

Error message

GitHub returned an invalid response while resolving ${repo}@${ref}.

What it means

Error "GitHub returned an invalid response while resolving ${repo}@${ref}." thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/install.ts:163

  // Anonymous GitHub requests are rate-limited per source IP (CI runners and
  // corporate NAT exhaust the shared quota); honor an ambient token when present.
  // The token travels via a curl --config file so it never appears in process args.
  const token = process.env.GH_TOKEN ?? process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN;
  if (!token) return runCommand("curl", args, options);
  const configDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "paperclipai-gh-"));
  const configFile = path.join(configDir, "headers");
  try {
    fs.writeFileSync(configFile, `header = "Authorization: Bearer ${token}"\n`, { mode: 0o600 });
    return await runCommand("curl", ["--config", configFile, ...args], options);
  } finally {
    fs.rmSync(configDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
  }
}

export async function resolveGitHubRef(repo: string, ref: string, runCommand: CommandRunner): Promise<string> {
  const result = await runGitHubCurl(["--fail", "--silent", "--show-error", "--location", "--header", "Accept: application/vnd.github+json", "--header", "User-Agent: paperclipai-install", `https://api.github.com/repos/${repo}/commits/${encodeURIComponent(ref)}`], runCommand, { maxBuffer: 4 * 1024 * 1024 });
  let sha: unknown;
  try { sha = (JSON.parse(result.stdout) as { sha?: unknown }).sha; } catch { throw new Error(`GitHub returned an invalid response while resolving ${repo}@${ref}.`); }
  if (typeof sha !== "string" || !/^[0-9a-f]{40}$/i.test(sha)) throw new Error(`GitHub did not return a full commit SHA for ${repo}@${ref}.`);
  return sha.toLowerCase();
}

function payloadEntrypoint(payloadPath: string): string {
  return path.join(payloadPath, "node_modules", "paperclipai", "dist", "index.js");
}

export async function smokePayload(payloadPath: string, expectedVersion: string, runCommand: CommandRunner): Promise<void> {
  const entrypoint = payloadEntrypoint(payloadPath);
  if (!fs.existsSync(entrypoint)) throw new Error(`Installed package is missing its CLI entrypoint: ${entrypoint}`);
  const result = await runCommand(process.execPath, [entrypoint, "--version"], { maxBuffer: 1024 * 1024 });
  const reportedVersion = result.stdout.trim().split(/\s+/)[0];
  if (reportedVersion !== expectedVersion) {
    throw new Error(`Installed CLI smoke check reported ${reportedVersion || "no version"}; expected ${expectedVersion}.`);
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 67001ec6eb)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/commands/install.ts:163 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@67001ec6eb (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b2952410e3f9bff5. Report an issue: GitHub.