ruvnet/ruflo · error · PodTemplateValidationError

successCriteria entries must be non-empty strings

Error message

successCriteria entries must be non-empty strings

What it means

Thrown inside validatePodBench()'s requireArray item validator when a bench.successCriteria entry is not a non-empty string — e.g. a number, null, object, or "". The error path includes the exact index (/bench/successCriteria[2]) so the offending bullet can be found.

Source

Thrown at v3/@claude-flow/cli/src/business-pods/pod-schema.ts:142

}

function validatePodAgent(item: unknown, path: string): PodAgent {
  if (!isObject(item)) throw new PodTemplateValidationError('agent must be an object', path);
  return {
    role: requireString(item, 'role', path),
    agentType: requireString(item, 'agentType', path),
    description: requireString(item, 'description', path),
    preferLocal: requireBoolean(item, 'preferLocal', path),
  };
}

function validatePodBench(item: unknown, path: string): PodBench {
  if (!isObject(item)) throw new PodTemplateValidationError('bench must be an object', path);
  const name = requireString(item, 'name', path);
  const description = requireString(item, 'description', path);
  const successCriteria = requireArray(item, 'successCriteria', path, (s, sp) => {
    if (typeof s !== 'string' || s.length === 0) {
      throw new PodTemplateValidationError('successCriteria entries must be non-empty strings', sp);
    }
    return s;
  });
  if (successCriteria.length === 0) {
    throw new PodTemplateValidationError('bench.successCriteria must have ≥1 entry', path);
  }
  const scheduleHours = requireNumber(item, 'scheduleHours', path);
  if (scheduleHours < 1) {
    throw new PodTemplateValidationError('bench.scheduleHours must be ≥1', path);
  }
  return { name, description, successCriteria, scheduleHours };
}

function validateAuditReadView(item: unknown, path: string): PodAuditReadView {
  if (!isObject(item)) {
    throw new PodTemplateValidationError('auditReadView must be an object', path);
  }
  const includedEventTypes = requireArray(item, 'includedEventTypes', path, (s, sp) => {

View on GitHub (pinned to fa13ee4ad6)

Solutions

1. Make every entry a non-empty string: spell numbers out ("≥10 qualified leads") instead of bare 5
2. Remove empty-string placeholder bullets
3. Use the indexed path in the error to jump straight to the bad entry
4. Pre-validate generated templates with validatePodTemplate

Example fix

// before
"successCriteria": ["demo booked", 10, ""]
// after
"successCriteria": ["demo booked", "≥10 qualified leads per week"]

const criteria = (template.bench as { successCriteria?: unknown[] }).successCriteria ?? [];
const badIdx = criteria.findIndex((c) => typeof c !== 'string' || c.length === 0);
if (badIdx >= 0) fail(`successCriteria[${badIdx}] must be a non-empty string`);

function isNonEmptyString(v: unknown): v is string {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.length > 0;
}

try {
  validatePodTemplate(template);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof PodTemplateValidationError && e.message.includes('successCriteria entries must be non-empty strings')) {
    fail(`Fix the entry at ${e.path} — spell out numbers, drop empty bullets`);
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: validatePodTemplate() with successCriteria like ["demo booked", 5, ""] — the numeric score or empty string entry fails while the array itself is valid.

Common situations: Mixing metrics into criteria lists ("criteria": ["leads", 10]); templating engines injecting null for blank bullets; copy-paste leaving an empty string placeholder.

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

• bench must be an object
• bench.successCriteria must have ≥1 entry
• field "${key}" must be a non-empty string
• field "${key}" must be a finite number
• field "${key}" must be a boolean

AI-assisted analysis of ruvnet/ruflo@fa13ee4ad6 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5fb1c17ee6b5e5d2. Report an issue: GitHub.