ruvnet/ruflo · error

invalid anchor task id at index

Error message

invalid anchor task id at index ${index}

What it means

Each anchor task's `id` must match `^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$` — ASCII alphanumerics, dot, underscore, hyphen; at most 128 characters; no whitespace or other symbols. IDs become correlation keys in receipts and lineage records, so the format is strict; the message reports the offending array index so you can find it fast.

Solutions

1. Rewrite ids to the allowed alphabet, e.g. `proj-123-fix-login`
2. Truncate ids longer than 128 characters while keeping them unique
3. Make sure the JSON contains strings, not numbers (`"id": 1` becomes `"id": "1"`)

Example fix

// before
{ "id": "PROJ-123 fix/login", "q": "...", "labels": ["..."] }

// after
{ "id": "PROJ-123-fix-login", "q": "...", "labels": ["..."] }

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';

const TASK_ID_RE = /^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$/;

function anchorTaskIdsOk(file: string): { ok: boolean; badIndex?: number } {
  const { tasks } = JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'));
  if (!Array.isArray(tasks)) return { ok: false };
  for (const [i, t] of tasks.entries()) {
    if (!t || typeof t.id !== 'string' || !TASK_ID_RE.test(t.id)) return { ok: false, badIndex: i };
  }
  return { ok: true };
}

const TASK_ID_RE = /^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$/;

interface TaskLike { id?: unknown; q?: unknown; labels?: unknown; }

function hasValidTaskId(task: unknown): task is TaskLike & { id: string } {
  return typeof (task as TaskLike)?.id === 'string' && TASK_ID_RE.test((task as TaskLike).id as string);
}

// Usage: filter/flag bad tasks before writing or sending the file
const invalid = tasks.map((t, i) => ({ t, i })).filter(({ t }) => !hasValidTaskId(t));

try {
  return loadEffectiveFlywheelAnchor(root, opts);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /^invalid anchor task id at index \d+$/.test(e.message)) {
    const index = Number(e.message.match(/(\d+)$/)?.[1]);
    throw new Error(`Task #${index} has an id outside [A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128} — slugify it before retrying.`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Task ids containing spaces, slashes, colons (`task: 1`), unicode characters, ids longer than 128 chars, or non-string ids (bare numbers in JSON) — validation runs per task in file order.

Common situations: Copying ids verbatim from ticket systems ('PROJ-123 fix login'); unicode ids from localization workflows; JSON generated by scripts with numeric primary keys.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• anchor task has no query
• anchor task requires non-empty string labels
• duplicate anchor task id
• flywheel anchor manifest requires path and sha256
• project flywheel anchor requires at least 4 labelled tasks

AI-assisted analysis of ruvnet/ruflo@2602b642d9 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/75f9cf3a44618b30. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at v3/@claude-flow/cli/src/services/harness-project-anchor.ts:100

  return actual;
}

function parseTasks(path: string): { version: string; tasks: HumanEvalTask[] } {
  const parsed = JSON.parse(readFileSync(path, 'utf8')) as {
    schemaVersion?: string;
    version?: string;
    tasks?: HumanEvalTask[];
  };
  if (parsed.schemaVersion && parsed.schemaVersion !== PROJECT_ANCHOR_SCHEMA) {
    throw new Error(`unsupported flywheel anchor schema: ${parsed.schemaVersion}`);
  }
  if (!Array.isArray(parsed.tasks) || parsed.tasks.length < 4) {
    throw new Error('project flywheel anchor requires at least 4 labelled tasks');
  }
  const ids = new Set<string>();
  for (const [index, task] of parsed.tasks.entries()) {
    if (!task || typeof task.id !== 'string' || !/^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$/.test(task.id)) {
      throw new Error(`invalid anchor task id at index ${index}`);
    }
    if (ids.has(task.id)) throw new Error(`duplicate anchor task id: ${task.id}`);
    ids.add(task.id);
    if (typeof task.q !== 'string' || task.q.trim().length === 0) {
      throw new Error(`anchor task ${task.id} has no query`);
    }
    if (!Array.isArray(task.labels) || task.labels.length === 0 || task.labels.some((label) => typeof label !== 'string' || !label.trim())) {
      throw new Error(`anchor task ${task.id} requires non-empty string labels`);
    }
  }
  return { version: parsed.version ?? 'project-anchor-v1', tasks: parsed.tasks };
}

function toSelection(
  path: string,
  expectedHash: string,
): FlywheelAnchorSelection {
  const parsed = parseTasks(path);

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