What causes "maxRetries must be finite, but is ${maxRetries}" in remotion-dev/remotion?

Use Number.isFinite() to reject non-finite values before the API call.

remotion-dev/remotion · error · TypeError

maxRetries must be finite, but is ${maxRetries}

Error message

maxRetries must be finite, but is ${maxRetries}

What it means

Thrown by validateMaxRetries() (a TypeError) when the value is a number but fails Number.isFinite() (Infinity or -Infinity). Retry counts must be a concrete non-negative integer.

Source

Thrown at packages/lambda/src/shared/validate-retries.ts:11

export function validateMaxRetries(
	maxRetries: unknown,
): asserts maxRetries is number {
	if (typeof maxRetries !== 'number') {
		throw new TypeError(
			'maxRetries must be a number, but is ' + JSON.stringify(maxRetries),
		);
	}

	if (!Number.isFinite(maxRetries)) {
		throw new TypeError('maxRetries must be finite, but is ' + maxRetries);
	}

	if (Number.isNaN(maxRetries)) {
		throw new TypeError('maxRetries is NaN');
	}

	if (maxRetries < 0) {
		throw new TypeError(`maxRetries cannot be negative but is ${maxRetries}`);
	}

	if (maxRetries % 1 !== 0) {
		throw new TypeError(
			`maxRetries should be an integer, but is ${maxRetries}.`,
		);
	}
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

Use Number.isFinite() to reject non-finite values before the API call.
Pick a concrete retry count (e.g. 1-3) instead of an unbounded sentinel.
Audit formulas producing maxRetries for divide-by-zero paths.

Example fix

// before
const maxRetries = someCount / divisor  // divisor 0 -> Infinity
// after
const maxRetries = Number.isFinite(someCount / divisor) ? someCount / divisor : 1

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (typeof maxRetries === 'number' && !Number.isFinite(maxRetries)) {
  throw new TypeError('maxRetries must be finite')
}

Type guard

const isFiniteRetries = (v: unknown): v is number =>
  typeof v === 'number' && Number.isFinite(v) && Number.isInteger(v) && v >= 0

Prevention

Reject non-finite values with Number.isFinite() before the API call.
Use a concrete retry count instead of 'Infinity'.
Audit retry-count formulas for divide-by-zero paths.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing Infinity (e.g. Number('Infinity'), divide-by-zero), or a value coerced from 'Infinity' string.

Common situations: Defaulting to Infinity intending 'retry forever'; arithmetic that can divide by zero; parsing untrusted input that contained 'Infinity'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6dc82683de3b5d10. Report an issue: GitHub.