semaphoreui/semaphore · error

argument --login required

Error message

argument --login required

What it means

getTokenUser validates the --login argument for the user token commands; if the login string is empty it returns 'argument --login required'. createUserToken and listUserTokens rely on this to resolve the target user.

Solutions

1. Re-run the command with --login <username or email>
2. Wrap the command with an input check in scripts: fail fast if LOGIN is empty
3. See `semaphore user token --help` for the required flags

Example fix

// before
semaphore user token create
// after
semaphore user token create --login john

if [ -z "$LOGIN" ]; then echo "usage: ... user token create --login <user>"; exit 1; fi
semaphore user token create --login "$LOGIN"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `semaphore user token create` or `... token list` (or the anonymous caller path) without supplying --login.

Common situations: New users of the token subcommands forgetting the flag; scripts templated without the login placeholder filled in; interactive shell history re-runs that dropped the argument.

Understand the failure class

Background: "--flag is required" and "must specify" CLI errors: how missing-required-flag validation works and how to fix it — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot specify both --undo-to and --apply-to
• user with login not found
• invalid --ttl value
• no admins found in database; create a admin first
• Empty token

AI-assisted analysis of semaphoreui/semaphore@1774ccb71a (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8704e9324844b3b3. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/cmd/user_token.go:49

	tokenListCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&targetTokenArgs.login, "login", "", "Login of the token owner")

	tokenCmd.AddCommand(tokenCreateCmd)
	tokenCmd.AddCommand(tokenListCmd)
	userCmd.AddCommand(tokenCmd)
}

var tokenCmd = &cobra.Command{
	Use:   "token",
	Short: "Manage user API tokens",
	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
		_ = cmd.Help()
		os.Exit(0)
	},
}

func getTokenUser(store db.Store, login string) (db.User, error) {
	if login == "" {
		return db.User{}, errors.New("argument --login required")
	}

	user, err := store.GetUserByLoginOrEmail(login, "")
	if errors.Is(err, db.ErrNotFound) {
		return db.User{}, fmt.Errorf("user with login %s not found", login)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return db.User{}, err
	}

	return user, nil
}

func createUserToken(store db.Store, out io.Writer, args tokenArgs) error {
	user, err := getTokenUser(store, args.login)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 1774ccb71a)