remotion-dev/remotion · error · TypeError

Expected life cycle value to be a string, got ${JSON.stringi

Error message

Expected life cycle value to be a string, got ${JSON.stringify(lifeCycleValue)}

What it means

Thrown by validateDeleteAfter() (exposed via the AWS provider in @remotion/lambda-client) when the 'deleteAfter' lifecycle value is not null/undefined and not a string. deleteAfter controls the S3 lifecycle rule that auto-deletes render artifacts after a fixed number of days. null and undefined are explicitly allowed (both return early), so only other non-string types throw.

Source

Thrown at packages/lambda-client/src/aws-provider.ts:84

	// @ts-expect-error
	globalThis._dumpUnreleasedBuffers = new EventEmitter();

	// @ts-expect-error
	(globalThis._dumpUnreleasedBuffers as EventEmitter).setMaxListeners(201);
}

const validateDeleteAfter = (lifeCycleValue: unknown) => {
	if (lifeCycleValue === null) {
		return;
	}

	if (lifeCycleValue === undefined) {
		return;
	}

	if (typeof lifeCycleValue !== 'string') {
		throw new TypeError(
			`Expected life cycle value to be a string, got ${JSON.stringify(
				lifeCycleValue,
			)}`,
		);
	}

	if (!(lifeCycleValue in expiryDays)) {
		throw new TypeError(
			`Expected deleteAfter value to be one of ${Object.keys(expiryDays).join(
				', ',
			)}, got ${lifeCycleValue}`,
		);
	}
};

export const awsImplementation: ProviderSpecifics<AwsProvider> = {
	getChromiumPath() {
		return '/opt/bin/chromium';

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

Pass one of the string enum values: '1-day', '3-days', '7-days', or '30-days'.
Pass null or undefined to disable the lifecycle rule.
Map a numeric day count to the closest allowed key before calling.

Example fix

// before
await cleanUpS3Files({ deleteAfter: 7 }); // number, not the enum string

// after
await cleanUpS3Files({ deleteAfter: '7-days' });

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

const DELETE_AFTER = new Set(['1-day', '3-days', '7-days', '30-days']);
function toDeleteAfter(v: unknown): '1-day' | '3-days' | '7-days' | '30-days' | undefined {
  return typeof v === 'string' && DELETE_AFTER.has(v) ? (v as any) : undefined;
}

Type guard

const isDeleteAfter = (v: unknown): v is '1-day' | '3-days' | '7-days' | '30-days' =>
  typeof v === 'string' && ['1-day', '3-days', '7-days', '30-days'].includes(v);

Prevention

Type deleteAfter as the string enum (keyof typeof expiryDays), never number.
Allow null/undefined explicitly in your schema to mean 'no lifecycle rule'.
Map day counts to the nearest allowed key at the config boundary.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing deleteAfter as a number (e.g. 7, intending '7 days'), a boolean, an object, or an array to an API that applies lifecycle rules (cleanUpS3Files / deployFunction / bucket lifecycle helpers).

Common situations: Assuming deleteAfter takes a day count and passing 7 instead of '7-days'; reading a numeric value from config and forwarding it raw.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd5a4390d8f8db77. Report an issue: GitHub.