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() when maxRetries is a number but fails Number.isFinite(), i.e. it is Infinity or -Infinity. This guard sits between the type check and the NaN check, and because Number.isFinite(NaN) is also false, a NaN value will hit this branch (rendered as '...must be finite, but is NaN') rather than the dedicated NaN branch below it.

Source

Thrown at packages/cloudrun/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

1. Validate with Number.isFinite() and substitute a sane default (e.g. 1) before calling the API.
2. Trace the source of the value: confirm the arithmetic producing maxRetries never divides by zero or operates on undefined.
3. If the value is user-supplied, reject non-finite input in your own validation layer.

Example fix

// before
const maxRetries = total / shards; // shards could be 0 -> Infinity

// after
const maxRetries = Number.isFinite(total / shards) ? total / shards : 1;

if (!Number.isFinite(maxRetries)) {
  throw new RangeError('maxRetries must be a finite number');
}

const isFiniteNumber = (v: unknown): v is number =>
  typeof v === 'number' && Number.isFinite(v);

When it happens

Trigger: Passing Infinity, -Infinity, or NaN as maxRetries. NaN typically arrives from arithmetic on undefined (e.g. Number(undefined) is NaN) or a failed Number() coercion; Infinity can come from division by zero or explicit constants.

Common situations: Computing retries from a formula that divides by a zero/undefined denominator; using Number(maybeUndefined) without a fallback; parsing user input that is empty and coerces to NaN.

Related errors

• 'bucketName' must be a string, but is ${JSON.stringify(bucke
• "cloudRunUrl" parameter must be a string, but is ${JSON.stri
• "codec" must be a string
• Privacy must be a string
• The 'project-id' argument must be a string, but is ${JSON.st

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ec85834b612aa744. Report an issue: GitHub.