pbakaus/impeccable · error · Error

--target requires a path value (use --target <path> or --tar

Error message

--target requires a path value (use --target <path> or --target=<path>)

What it means

Thrown by consumeTargetArg when the live boot sees `--target` as a bare flag with no following path argument (the next token is missing, empty, or itself starts with `--`). The guard exists so a malformed target cannot degrade into implicit 'most recent app' selection, which would silently mutate the wrong app's session state.

Source

Thrown at plugin/skills/impeccable/scripts/live/roots.mjs:451

  if (fresh.selection) return { selection: fresh.selection, source: 'fresh' };
  return { manifest: fresh.manifest, source: 'fresh' };
}

/**
 * Consume a `--target <path>` / `--target=<path>` pair from an argv array,
 * returning the value and removing the tokens so downstream flag parsers
 * (which do not know the option) never see them.
 */
export function consumeTargetArg(argv = process.argv) {
  for (let i = 0; i < argv.length; i++) {
    const arg = argv[i];
    if (arg === '--target') {
      const value = argv[i + 1];
      // A --target with no usable value must not degrade into implicit root
      // selection: these helpers mutate session state, and "the most recent
      // app" is exactly what the caller was trying NOT to get.
      if (typeof value !== 'string' || value === '' || value.startsWith('--')) {
        throw new Error('--target requires a path value (use --target <path> or --target=<path>)');
      }
      argv.splice(i, 2);
      return value;
    }
    if (typeof arg === 'string' && arg.startsWith('--target=')) {
      const value = arg.slice('--target='.length);
      if (value === '') {
        throw new Error('--target requires a path value (use --target <path> or --target=<path>)');
      }
      argv.splice(i, 1);
      return value;
    }
  }
  return null;
}

/**
 * Entry-point guard for live CLI scripts: resolve the governing roots and

View on GitHub (pinned to d14711ae3d)

Solutions

1. Provide the path right after: `--target ./apps/web` or use the equals form `--target=./apps/web`.
2. Check your wrapper script for cases where the target path variable is empty before appending --target.
3. Run the helper without --target to fall back to implicit root resolution if multi-app disambiguation is not needed.

Example fix

# before
node helper.mjs --target

# after
node helper.mjs --target ./apps/web

function validateTargetArg(argv) {
  const idx = argv.indexOf('--target');
  if (idx === -1) return null;
  const value = argv[idx + 1];
  if (typeof value !== 'string' || value === '' || value.startsWith('--')) {
    throw new Error('--target needs a path');
  }
  return value;
}

function isValidTargetValue(value) {
  return typeof value === 'string' && value.length > 0 && !value.startsWith('--');
}

try {
  consumeTargetArg(process.argv);
} catch (err) {
  console.error(err.message);
  process.exit(1);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking a live helper with `--target` at the end of argv, `--target --port 4321`, or `--target ""`. The throw fires from the space-separated form branch before argv mutation.

Common situations: Shell quoting mistake, a typo where another flag follows --target, or a script that conditionally appends --target but forgets the value.

Related errors

• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• --warning-days must be a non-negative number.
• --close-days must be at least --warning-days.
• --now must be a valid date.
• ${flag} requires a value.

AI-assisted analysis of pbakaus/impeccable@d14711ae3d (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f7d30942f87dbb87. Report an issue: GitHub.