santifer/career-ops · error · Error

apify: entry ${entry.name} has invalid field_map. Each of ti

Error message

apify: entry ${entry.name} has invalid field_map. Each of title, url, company, location, description must be a string or a non-empty array of strings. title and url are required.

What it means

Thrown by the apify provider's `fetch` hook (plugins/apify/index.mjs:195) when a portals.yml entry's `field_map` is missing, or when `title`/`url` are not valid field specs, or when any of the optional `company`/`location`/`description` fields (if present) are not valid field specs. A 'field spec' is a string or a non-empty array of strings (checked by `isFieldSpec`) naming the JSON path(s) in the actor's dataset items to extract. title and url are required; the others are optional but, if present, must be valid.

Source

Thrown at plugins/apify/index.mjs:195

    detect() { return null; },

    async fetch(entry, ctx) {
      const token = ctx?.env?.APIFY_TOKEN || process.env.APIFY_TOKEN;
      if (!hasToken(token)) {
        throw new Error('APIFY_TOKEN not set — enable apify in config/plugins.yml and add the token to .env');
      }
      if (!entry.actor) {
        throw new Error(`apify: entry ${entry.name} missing 'actor' (e.g. misceres/indeed-scraper)`);
      }
      if (
        !entry.field_map ||
        !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.title) ||
        !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.url) ||
        (entry.field_map.company != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.company)) ||
        (entry.field_map.location != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.location)) ||
        (entry.field_map.description != null && !isFieldSpec(entry.field_map.description))
      ) {
        throw new Error(
          `apify: entry ${entry.name} has invalid field_map. Each of title, url, company, ` +
          `location, description must be a string or a non-empty array of strings. title and url are required.`
        );
      }

      const opts = { token };
      if (entry.timeout_ms != null) opts.timeoutMs = entry.timeout_ms;
      const items = await runActor(entry.actor, entry.input || {}, opts);

      const useLocalJd = entry.field_map.description != null;
      const sourceLabel = String(entry.actor || 'apify').replace(/[^a-z0-9]+/gi, '-').toLowerCase();

      return items
        .map(item => {
          const normalized = normalizeItem(item, entry.field_map, entry.defaults);
          if (!normalized.title || !normalized.url) return null;
          if (!isHttpsUrl(normalized.url)) return null;
          if (!useLocalJd) return normalized;

View on GitHub (pinned to 9b17a8ac97)

Solutions

Inspect a sample dataset item from the actor (Apify console) to learn the real field names, then set field_map accordingly.
Ensure `title` and `url` are strings (or non-empty arrays of strings) matching dataset keys.
For optional fields, either omit them or use valid string/array-of-strings specs.
Remove empty-array field_map entries (`[]` is invalid).

Example fix

# before — portals.yml
- name: indeed
  provider: apify
  actor: misceres/indeed-scraper
  field_map:
    title: positionTitle   # wrong key name → empty extraction
    url: []                # empty array → invalid
# after (keys match the actor's dataset item shape)
- name: indeed
  provider: apify
  actor: misceres/indeed-scraper
  field_map:
    title: title
    url: url
    company: company
    location: location
    description: description

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

function isFieldSpec(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.length > 0 ||
         (Array.isArray(v) && v.length > 0 && v.every(x => typeof x === 'string' && x.length > 0));
}
function validateFieldMap(entry) {
  const fm = entry.field_map;
  if (!fm || !isFieldSpec(fm.title) || !isFieldSpec(fm.url)) {
    throw new Error(`Entry '${entry.name}' field_map requires valid title and url.`);
  }
  for (const k of ['company', 'location', 'description']) {
    if (fm[k] != null && !isFieldSpec(fm[k])) {
      throw new Error(`Entry '${entry.name}' field_map.${k} is invalid.`);
    }
  }
}
portals.filter(p => p.provider === 'apify').forEach(validateFieldMap);

Type guard

/** @param {unknown} v */
function isFieldSpec(v) {
  if (typeof v === 'string') return v.length > 0;
  if (Array.isArray(v)) return v.length > 0 && v.every(x => typeof x === 'string' && x.length > 0);
  return false;
}

Try / catch

try {
  await provider.fetch(entry, ctx);
} catch (err) {
  if (/invalid field_map/.test(err.message)) {
    console.error(`Config error: ${err.message}`);
    process.exitCode = 2;
  } else throw err;
}

Prevention

Inspect a sample dataset item on the Apify console to learn real field names before writing field_map.
Lint field_map with isFieldSpec in CI for every apify entry.
Omit optional fields rather than setting them to empty arrays.

When it happens

Trigger: The entry has no `field_map`, or `field_map.title`/`field_map.url` is missing/non-string/empty-array, or an optional field is set to a number/object/empty array. The compound `if` evaluates true and throws.

Common situations: field_map omitted entirely; title/url misspelled or referencing a field the actor doesn't output; an optional field set to `null`-equivalent or an empty array `[]`; YAML formatting that made a field an object instead of a string.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of santifer/career-ops@9b17a8ac97 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a26e3b8b0a8685f. Report an issue: GitHub.