remix-run/remix · error · UsageError

--config requires a value.

Error message

--config requires a value.

What it means

The global CLI option parser requires a value after a space-separated --config flag. The next argv entry is missing, empty, or looks like another flag (starts with '-'), so the config path is rejected.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/lib/cli.ts:167

  let noColor = false

  for (let index = 0; index < argv.length; index++) {
    let arg = argv[index]!

    if (arg === '--') {
      filteredArgv.push(...argv.slice(index))
      break
    }

    if (arg === '--no-color') {
      noColor = true
      continue
    }

    if (arg === '--config') {
      let value = argv[index + 1]
      if (value == null || value.length === 0 || value.startsWith('-')) {
        throw missingOptionValue('--config')
      }
      configPath = value
      index++
      continue
    }

    if (arg.startsWith('--config=')) {
      let value = arg.slice('--config='.length)
      if (value.length === 0) {
        throw missingOptionValue('--config')
      }
      configPath = value
      continue
    }

    filteredArgv.push(arg)
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 9696913134)

Solutions

1. Provide a value: remix --config remix.config.json dev
2. Use the equals form: --config=remix.config.json
3. Check shell scripts for unquoted/empty variables passed as the config path

Example fix

# before
$ remix --config   # missing value

# after
$ remix --config remix.config.json dev

function configFlagHasValue(argv: string[]): boolean {
  let i = argv.indexOf('--config')
  if (i === -1) return true
  let v = argv[i + 1]
  return v != null && v.length > 0 && !v.startsWith('-')
}

try {
  runCli(argv)
} catch (error) {
  if (/--config requires a value/.test(error.message)) printUsage()
  else throw error
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running remix --config with nothing after it, or followed immediately by another flag, e.g. 'remix --config --verbose' or a trailing 'remix dev --config' at end of argv.

Common situations: Shell scripts or CI pipelines concatenating flags where the config path variable is empty; users assuming --config is a boolean flag; copy-paste errors from docs.

Related errors

• throw new AssertionError({ message, actual, expected, operat
• expect(received).toThrow() requires a function (got ${typeof
• expected promise to resolve, but it rejected with: ${stringi
• expected promise to reject, but it resolved with: ${stringif
• throw new TypeError(message)

AI-assisted analysis of remix-run/remix@9696913134 (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/650bc6d98cbcfe5f. Report an issue: GitHub.