phacility/phabricator · error · PhutilArgumentUsageException

Failed to read stdin.

Error message

Failed to read stdin.

What it means

Thrown by the `bin/repository hint` workflow in Phabricator/Phorge when `file_get_contents('php://stdin')` returns false, meaning the PHP process could not read anything from standard input. This workflow expects a JSON document describing commit hints to be piped into it rather than passed as arguments. The error is a usage guard so the command fails fast before attempting any JSON parsing or database writes.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/repository/management/PhabricatorRepositoryManagementHintWorkflow.php:25

    $this
      ->setName('hint')
      ->setExamples('**hint** [options] ...')
      ->setSynopsis(
        pht(
          'Write hints about unusual (rewritten or unreadable) commits.'))
      ->setArguments(array());
  }

  public function execute(PhutilArgumentParser $args) {
    $viewer = $this->getViewer();

    echo tsprintf(
      "%s\n",
      pht('Reading list of hints from stdin...'));

    $hints = file_get_contents('php://stdin');
    if ($hints === false) {
      throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(pht('Failed to read stdin.'));
    }

    try {
      $hints = phutil_json_decode($hints);
    } catch (Exception $ex) {
      throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
        pht(
          'Expected a list of hints in JSON format: %s',
          $ex->getMessage()));
    }

    $repositories = array();
    foreach ($hints as $idx => $hint) {
      if (!is_array($hint)) {
        throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
          pht(
            'Each item in the list of hints should be a JSON object, but '.
            'the item at index "%s" is not.',

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

1. Pipe the JSON payload in: `./bin/repository hint < hints.json` or `cat hints.json | ./bin/repository hint`.
2. If redirecting from a file, verify it exists and is readable by the user running the command (`ls -l hints.json`).
3. In cron/sudo contexts, redirect stdin explicitly from a real file rather than leaving it detached.
4. Verify PHP can open the stream: `php -r 'var_dump(file_get_contents("php://stdin"));' < hints.json`.

Example fix

// before
$ ./bin/repository hint   # no stdin attached
[1160] Failed to read stdin.

// after
$ ./bin/repository hint < /path/to/hints.json

#!/bin/bash
HINTS=/path/to/hints.json
[ -r "$HINTS" ] || { echo "hints file missing/unreadable" >&2; exit 1; }
./bin/repository hint < "$HINTS"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `./bin/repository hint` with no pipe or input redirection (empty stdin in a non-interactive shell); redirecting stdin from an unreadable or permission-denied file (`./bin/repository hint < /root/secret-hints.json` as a user without read access); running under cron/sudo where stdin is closed; a broken pipe (`echo ... | ./bin/repository hint` where the echo side fails).

Common situations: Operators migrating rewritten history (e.g. after `git filter-repo`) forget the workflow takes input on stdin, not as CLI args. CI jobs or cron scripts invoke the command with stdin detached (e.g. `< /dev/null` on a platform where the read errors, or under `nohup` without redirection).

Related errors

• Expected a list of hints in JSON format: %s
• Each item in the list of hints should be a JSON object, but
• Request parameter "%s" is not formatted properly. Expected a
• Request parameter "%s" is not formatted properly. Expected a
• Invalid Request (CSRF)

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/03cde741d6688204. Report an issue: GitHub.