pbakaus/impeccable · error · Error

--warning-days must be a non-negative number.

Error message

--warning-days must be a non-negative number.

What it means

Thrown by sheriff.mjs parseArgs after flag parsing when --warning-days is not a finite number or is negative. The default is 7 days; an invalid value would corrupt the warning schedule.

Source

Thrown at scripts/github/sheriff.mjs:450

    else if (arg === '--no-label-ensure') options.ensureLabels = false;
    else if (arg === '--auto-close-regulars') options.autoCloseRegulars = true;
    else if (arg === '--repo') options.repo = requireValue(argv, ++i, arg);
    else if (arg === '--warning-days') options.warningDays = Number(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--close-days') options.closeDays = Number(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--maintainers') options.maintainers = splitList(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--regular-contributors') options.regularContributors = splitList(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--exempt-labels') options.exemptLabels = splitList(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--now') options.now = new Date(requireValue(argv, ++i, arg));
    else if (arg === '--help' || arg === '-h') {
      printHelp();
      process.exit(0);
    } else {
      throw new Error(`Unknown argument: ${arg}`);
    }
  }

  if (!Number.isFinite(options.warningDays) || options.warningDays < 0) {
    throw new Error('--warning-days must be a non-negative number.');
  }
  if (!Number.isFinite(options.closeDays) || options.closeDays < options.warningDays) {
    throw new Error('--close-days must be at least --warning-days.');
  }
  if (Number.isNaN(options.now.getTime())) throw new Error('--now must be a valid date.');

  return options;
}

function latestMaintainerWaitCommand(pr, maintainers) {
  return latestDate([
    ...(pr.comments || [])
      .filter((comment) => maintainers.has(normalizeLogin(comment.authorLogin)))
      .filter((comment) => hasSheriffWaitCommand(comment.body))
      .map((comment) => comment.createdAt),
    ...(pr.reviews || [])
      .filter((review) => maintainers.has(normalizeLogin(review.authorLogin)))
      .filter((review) => hasSheriffWaitCommand(review.body))

View on GitHub (pinned to d14711ae3d)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-negative integer: `--warning-days 7`.
2. Strip unit suffixes before passing; sheriff takes a bare number of days.
3. If deriving from an env var, validate and coerce it upstream.

Example fix

# before
node sheriff.mjs --warning-days 7d

# after
node sheriff.mjs --warning-days 7

function isValidWarningDays(value) {
  const n = Number(value);
  return Number.isFinite(n) && n >= 0;
}

function isNonNegativeDays(value) {
  return Number.isFinite(Number(value)) && Number(value) >= 0;
}

if (!isNonNegativeDays(warningDays)) {
  console.error('--warning-days must be a non-negative number.');
  process.exit(2);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `--warning-days abc` (NaN after Number()), `--warning-days -1`, or `--warning-days` with a non-numeric value. Number() accepts the string so the parse does not fail, but the post-loop finite/negative check does.

Common situations: Typo passing a unit suffix like '7d', a negative value, or a non-numeric env-derived value.

Related errors

• Unknown argument: ${arg}
• --close-days must be at least --warning-days.
• --now must be a valid date.
• ${flag} requires a value.
• --target requires a path value (use --target <path> or --tar

AI-assisted analysis of pbakaus/impeccable@d14711ae3d (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d1865d5e2b16c459. Report an issue: GitHub.