paperclipai/paperclip · error

Skill reference is required.

Error message

Skill reference is required.

What it means

resolveCompanySkillReference trimmed the reference to an empty string, so company skill resolution has no id, key, or slug to match.

Solutions

1. Provide a skill reference (ID, key, or slug).

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/skills.ts:611 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/de0ef3252b53a4e8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/skills.ts:611

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);
  if (byId) return byId;

  const byKey = skills.find((skill) => skill.key === trimmed);
  if (byKey) return byKey;

  const normalizedSlug = normalizeSkillSlug(trimmed);
  const bySlug = skills.filter((skill) => skill.slug === normalizedSlug);
  if (bySlug.length === 1 && bySlug[0]) return bySlug[0];
  if (bySlug.length > 1) {
    throw new Error(`Ambiguous skill slug "${trimmed}". Use a skill ID or key instead.`);
  }

  throw new Error(`Skill not found: ${reference}`);
}

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