rohitg00/agentmemory · error · Error

query is required

Error message

query is required

What it means

Both memory_recall and memory_smart_search require a non-empty string query argument. validate() throws when query is absent, not a string, or blank after trimming.

Source

Thrown at src/mcp/standalone.ts:148

      v.type = (args["type"] as string) || "fact";
      v.concepts = normalizeList(args["concepts"]);
      v.files = normalizeList(args["files"]);
      // The tool schema exposes project (and now agentId); dropping them
      // here silently broke project/agent scoping through the stdio
      // package specifically.
      if (typeof args["project"] === "string" && args["project"].trim()) {
        v.project = args["project"].trim();
      }
      if (typeof args["agentId"] === "string" && args["agentId"].trim()) {
        v.agentId = args["agentId"].trim();
      }
      return v;
    }
    case "memory_recall":
    case "memory_smart_search": {
      const query = args["query"];
      if (typeof query !== "string" || !query.trim()) {
        throw new Error("query is required");
      }
      v.query = query.trim();
      v.limit = parseLimit(args["limit"]);
      const fmt = args["format"];
      if (typeof fmt === "string" && fmt.trim()) {
        v.format = fmt.trim().toLowerCase();
      }
      const budget = args["token_budget"];
      if (typeof budget === "number" && Number.isFinite(budget) && budget > 0) {
        v.tokenBudget = Math.floor(budget);
      } else if (typeof budget === "string" && budget.trim()) {
        const n = Number(budget);
        if (Number.isFinite(n) && n > 0) v.tokenBudget = Math.floor(n);
      }
      return v;
    }
    case "memory_sessions": {
      v.limit = parseLimit(args["limit"], 20);

View on GitHub (pinned to e04ba88819)

Solutions

1. Provide a non-empty search string in args.query.
2. Guard the caller: skip the recall call entirely when the user's input is empty.
3. Trim and validate user input before forwarding it as the query.

Example fix

// before
await callTool("memory_recall", { query: userInput }); // userInput may be ""
// after
if (!userInput.trim()) return [];
await callTool("memory_recall", { query: userInput.trim() });

function canRecall(args) {
  return typeof args.query === "string" && args.query.trim().length > 0;
}
if (!canRecall(args)) return { skipped: true, results: [] }; // skip call entirely

function hasQuery(args: Record<string, unknown>): args is { query: string } & Record<string, unknown> {
  return typeof args.query === "string" && args.query.trim().length > 0;
}

try {
  return await callTool("memory_recall", args);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === "query is required") return { results: [] }; // empty input: no recall needed
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling memory_recall or memory_smart_search with no query key, query: null, a numeric query, or query: "" / whitespace.

Common situations: LLM agents issuing a recall 'just to check memory' without formulating a query; UI wiring passing an empty search box value; scripts that build args conditionally and drop the empty query key.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• mem::search: token_budget must be a positive integer
• content is required
• Unknown tool: ${toolName}
• memoryIds is required
• Invalid dateFrom: ${filter.dateFrom}

AI-assisted analysis of rohitg00/agentmemory@e04ba88819 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6683a0643390daa3. Report an issue: GitHub.