paperclipai/paperclip · error

Invalid config at ${configPath}: expected a JSON object

Error message

Invalid config at ${configPath}: expected a JSON object

What it means

Error "Invalid config at ${configPath}: expected a JSON object" thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Source

Thrown at packages/db/src/runtime-config.ts:156

  const rounded = Math.trunc(value);
  return rounded > 0 ? rounded : null;
}

function readConfig(configPath: string): PartialConfig | null {
  if (!existsSync(configPath)) return null;

  let parsed: unknown;
  try {
    parsed = JSON.parse(readFileSync(configPath, "utf8"));
  } catch (err) {
    throw new Error(
      `Failed to parse config at ${configPath}: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`,
    );
  }

  const migrated = migrateLegacyConfig(parsed);
  if (migrated === null || typeof migrated !== "object" || Array.isArray(migrated)) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid config at ${configPath}: expected a JSON object`);
  }

  const database =
    typeof migrated.database === "object" &&
    migrated.database !== null &&
    !Array.isArray(migrated.database)
      ? migrated.database
      : undefined;

  return {
    database: database
      ? {
          mode: database.mode === "postgres" ? "postgres" : "embedded-postgres",
          connectionString:
            typeof database.connectionString === "string" ? database.connectionString : undefined,
          embeddedPostgresDataDir:
            typeof database.embeddedPostgresDataDir === "string"
              ? database.embeddedPostgresDataDir

View on GitHub (pinned to 120ae5428f)

Solutions

1. Ensure the config file contains a top-level JSON object `{...}`, not an array or scalar.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/db/src/runtime-config.ts:156 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/51965efe8abdb769. Report an issue: GitHub.