What causes "Invalid JSON in import file: ${resolved}" in ruvnet/ruflo?

Validate the file with a JSON linter or JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(p,'utf-8')) before calling importFrom.

ruvnet/ruflo · error · Error

Invalid JSON in import file: ${resolved}

Error message

Invalid JSON in import file: ${resolved}

What it means

ConfigFileManager.importFrom reads the import file, then JSON.parse is attempted inside a try/catch; if parsing throws, the file exists but is not valid JSON. This is a content-validity error distinct from the missing-file error.

Source

Thrown at v3/@claude-flow/cli/src/services/config-file-manager.ts:161

  /** Export config to a specific path */
  exportTo(cwd: string, exportPath: string): void {
    const config = this.getConfig(cwd);
    const resolved = path.resolve(cwd, exportPath);
    this.writeAtomic(resolved, config);
  }

  /** Import config from a specific path */
  importFrom(cwd: string, importPath: string): void {
    const resolved = path.resolve(cwd, importPath);
    if (!fs.existsSync(resolved)) {
      throw new Error(`Import file not found: ${resolved}`);
    }
    const content = fs.readFileSync(resolved, 'utf-8');
    let imported: Record<string, unknown>;
    try {
      imported = JSON.parse(content);
    } catch {
      throw new Error(`Invalid JSON in import file: ${resolved}`);
    }
    if (typeof imported !== 'object' || imported === null || Array.isArray(imported)) {
      throw new Error('Import file must contain a JSON object');
    }
    const targetPath = this.configPath ?? path.resolve(cwd, CONFIG_FILENAMES[0]);
    this.writeAtomic(targetPath, imported);
    this.config = imported;
    this.configPath = targetPath;
  }

  /** Get the path to the current config file */
  getConfigPath(): string | null {
    return this.configPath;
  }

  /** Get default config */
  getDefaults(): Record<string, unknown> {
    return { ...DEFAULT_CONFIG };

View on GitHub (pinned to 6b01dc5a68)

Solutions

Validate the file with a JSON linter or JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(p,'utf-8')) before calling importFrom.
Strip JSONC comments / trailing commas from the source, or convert it to strict JSON.
Re-export a known-good config from another project and import that.
Ensure the file is UTF-8 without BOM.

Example fix

// before
manager.importFrom(cwd, './config.json'); // throws 'Invalid JSON'

// after — pre-validate and surface a clearer error
const raw = fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(cwd, './config.json'), 'utf-8');
let parsed: unknown;
try { parsed = JSON.parse(raw); }
catch (e) { throw new Error(`config.json is not valid JSON: ${(e as Error).message}`); }
manager.importFrom(cwd, './config.json');

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const resolved = path.resolve(cwd, importPath);
const raw = fs.readFileSync(resolved, 'utf-8');
JSON.parse(raw); // throws here with a clearer context if invalid
manager.importFrom(cwd, importPath);

Try / catch

try {
  manager.importFrom(cwd, importPath);
} catch (e) {
  if ((e as Error).message.startsWith('Invalid JSON')) {
    // surface file path + offer to re-export a known-good config
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Validate import files with a JSON linter before importing.
Keep config files strict JSON (no comments, no trailing commas).
Write configs via exportTo/atomic writes rather than hand-editing.
Ensure UTF-8 encoding without BOM.

When it happens

Trigger: The resolved import file contains malformed JSON: trailing commas, unquoted keys, single-quoted strings, a BOM/encoding issue, a partially written file, or JSON5/JSONC syntax that JSON.parse rejects.

Common situations: Importing a hand-edited file with comments (JSONC) or trailing commas; a previous atomic write was interrupted leaving truncated JSON; the file is actually YAML/TOML mislabeled .json; encoding is UTF-16 with BOM.

Understand the failure class

Parsing and encoding errors: unexpected token, malformed input — why parsers reject input and how to find the real culprit.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ruvnet/ruflo@6b01dc5a68 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2057aaa9b21aa222. Report an issue: GitHub.