paperclipai/paperclip · error

Systemd service values must not contain line breaks

Error message

Systemd service values must not contain line breaks

What it means

escapeSystemd rejects unit field values containing line breaks, which would inject additional directives into the generated systemd unit; a unit-injection guard.

Solutions

1. Remove line breaks from systemd service values; keep each value on a single line.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/services/service-manager.ts:57 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/7b9599699cf3a426. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/src/services/service-manager.ts:57

export type CommandResult = { stdout: string; stderr: string };
export type CommandRunner = (command: string, args: string[], options?: { inherit?: boolean }) => Promise<CommandResult>;

export const defaultCommandRunner: CommandRunner = async (command, args, options) => {
  if (options?.inherit) {
    await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
      const child = execFile(command, args, { windowsHide: true }, (error) => error ? reject(error) : resolve());
      child.stdout?.pipe(process.stdout);
      child.stderr?.pipe(process.stderr);
    });
    return { stdout: "", stderr: "" };
  }
  const result = await execFileAsync(command, args, { encoding: "utf8", windowsHide: true });
  return { stdout: result.stdout, stderr: result.stderr };
};

function escapeSystemd(value: string): string {
  if (/\r|\n/.test(value)) {
    throw new Error("Systemd service values must not contain line breaks");
  }
  return value
    .replaceAll("\\", "\\\\")
    .replaceAll('"', '\\"')
    .replaceAll("$", () => "$$")
    .replaceAll("%", "%%");
}

function escapeXml(value: string): string {
  return value.replaceAll("&", "&amp;").replaceAll("<", "&lt;").replaceAll(">", "&gt;").replaceAll('"', "&quot;").replaceAll("'", "&apos;");
}

function escapeRegExp(value: string): string {
  return value.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&");
}

export function resolveServiceShimPath(homeDir = os.homedir()): string {
  return process.env.PAPERCLIP_SHIM_PATH?.trim() || path.join(homeDir, ".local", "bin", "paperclipai");

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