santifer/career-ops · error · Error

Application answer state must be one of: ${[...VALID_STATES]

Error message

Application answer state must be one of: ${[...VALID_STATES].join(', ')}

What it means

Validation in `normalizeState` (application-answers.mjs): the answer record's `state` field, after lowercasing and whitespace-normalizing, must be a member of `VALID_STATES` (defined as the set `['filled', 'submitted']`). Any other value — including common synonyms like 'draft', 'pending', 'done' — is rejected to keep the persisted state machine uniform.

Source

Thrown at application-answers.mjs:39

  for (const key of keys) {
    const value = object?.[key];
    if (Array.isArray(value)) {
      if (value.length > 0) return value;
      continue;
    }
    if (value !== undefined && value !== null && String(value).trim()) return value;
  }
  return '';
}

function list(value) {
  return Array.isArray(value) ? value : [];
}

function normalizeState(state) {
  const normalized = inline(state || 'filled').toLowerCase();
  if (!VALID_STATES.has(normalized)) {
    throw new Error(`Application answer state must be one of: ${[...VALID_STATES].join(', ')}`);
  }
  return normalized;
}

function normalizeDate(date) {
  return inline(date || new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10));
}

function quoteBlock(value) {
  const text = String(value ?? '').replace(/\r\n/g, '\n').trim();
  if (!text) return '> Not recorded.';
  return text.split('\n').map((line) => `> ${line}`).join('\n');
}

function qaLines(entries, { labelKeys, valueKeys, fallback }) {
  if (entries.length === 0) return ['- None captured.'];

  return entries.flatMap((entry, index) => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9b17a8ac97)

Solutions

1. Use exactly one of `filled` or `submitted` (case-insensitive, surrounding whitespace tolerated).
2. Map your upstream statuses onto these two before invoking the script: `Applied`/`Saved`/`Drafted` → `filled`; `Submitted`/`Sent` → `submitted`.
3. Re-read the usage line: `--state filled|submitted`.
4. If you genuinely need a third state, extend `VALID_STATES` and update the persistence format intentionally — don't smuggle new values through.
5. Add a unit test listing accepted and rejected values.

Example fix

// before
node application-answers.mjs --report r.md --input a.json --state submitted-to-portal
// after
node application-answers.mjs --report r.md --input a.json --state submitted

const VALID = new Set(['filled', 'submitted']);
function normalizeState(s) {
  const n = String(s || '').trim().toLowerCase();
  if (!VALID.has(n)) throw new Error(`state must be filled|submitted, got: ${s}`);
  return n;
}

function isAnswerState(s) {
  return typeof s === 'string' &&
    ['filled', 'submitted'].includes(s.trim().toLowerCase());
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing `--state draft`, `--state pending`, `--state DONE` (case ok but value wrong), `--state Applied`, or any non-`filled`/`submitted` token to the CLI; calling `normalizeState('saved')` programmatically; JSON input with `{ "state": "complete" }`.

Common situations: User types a synonym that 'feels' right; integration with another tool whose status vocabulary differs; copy-paste from a tracker that uses `Applied`/`Submitted`-style labels; migrating from an older schema that allowed free-form state.

Related errors

• Missing value for ${arg}
• decision must be one of: ${[...DECISIONS].join(', ')}
• --${name} is required
• --${name} must not contain tabs or newlines
• --${name} must be a percentage (e.g. 70 or 70%), got "${v}"

AI-assisted analysis of santifer/career-ops@9b17a8ac97 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b9fd59f95fc44b9c. Report an issue: GitHub.