phacility/phabricator · warning · PhutilArgumentUsageException

Specify either "--all" or "--caches", not both.

Error message

Specify either "--all" or "--caches", not both.

What it means

Thrown by Phabricator's cache purge management workflow (bin/cache purge) when the command line supplies both --all and --caches. The workflow either purges every registered cache or a selected subset; the two selectors are mutually exclusive by design, so combining them aborts before any cache is touched.

Source

Thrown at src/applications/cache/management/PhabricatorCacheManagementPurgeWorkflow.php:31

            'name' => 'all',
            'help' => pht('Purge all caches.'),
          ),
          array(
            'name' => 'caches',
            'param' => 'keys',
            'help' => pht('Purge a specific set of caches.'),
          ),
        ));
  }

  public function execute(PhutilArgumentParser $args) {
    $all_purgers = PhabricatorCachePurger::getAllPurgers();

    $is_all = $args->getArg('all');
    $key_list = $args->getArg('caches');

    if ($is_all && phutil_nonempty_string($key_list)) {
      throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
        pht(
          'Specify either "--all" or "--caches", not both.'));
    } else if (!$is_all && !phutil_nonempty_string($key_list)) {
      throw new PhutilArgumentUsageException(
        pht(
          'Select caches to purge with "--all" or "--caches". Available '.
          'caches are: %s.',
          implode(', ', array_keys($all_purgers))));
    }

    if ($is_all) {
      $purgers = $all_purgers;
    } else {
      $key_list = preg_split('/[\s,]+/', $key_list);
      $purgers = array();
      foreach ($key_list as $key) {
        if (isset($all_purgers[$key])) {
          $purgers[$key] = $all_purgers[$key];

View on GitHub (pinned to 5720a38cfe)

Solutions

1. Re-run with exactly one selector: 'bin/cache purge --all' or 'bin/cache purge --caches general'.
2. If wrapping the workflow in PHP, clear one flag before execute(): pass either all=true with caches=null, or caches set with all=false.
3. Audit cron/systemd entries and deploy scripts for stale --all flags combined with newer --caches flags.

Example fix

// before
$ bin/cache purge --all --caches general
// after
$ bin/cache purge --all

// Before invoking the workflow, ensure the selectors are exclusive:
$is_all = (bool)$args->getArg('all');
$caches = $args->getArg('caches');
if ($is_all) {
  $args->setArg('caches', null); // drop --caches when --all is set
}
if ($is_all && phutil_nonempty_string($caches)) {
  // refuse early with your own message instead of the workflow's exception
  throw new InvalidArgumentException('Use --all or --caches, not both.');
}

try {
  $workflow->execute($args);
} catch (PhutilArgumentUsageException $ex) {
  echo tsprintf("%s\n", $ex->getMessage());
  echo $args->printUsageException($ex);
  exit(1);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'bin/cache purge --all --caches general' (or any invocation where getArg('all') is truthy AND getArg('caches') is a non-empty string). Also reachable from PHP by constructing the workflow and passing both arguments.

Common situations: Shell scripts that append --caches while a hardcoded --all remains in the command; copy-pasting example invocations that include both flags; wrapper scripts that always pass --all plus a user-supplied cache list.

Related errors

• Select caches to purge with "--all" or "--caches". Available
• Cache purger "%s" is not recognized. Available caches are: %
• Request parameter "%s" is not formatted properly. Expected a
• Received "multipart/form-data" request with no "boundary".
• Expected "multipart/form-data" parse to end in state "epilog

AI-assisted analysis of phacility/phabricator@5720a38cfe (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f55a30e7fb35218a. Report an issue: GitHub.