What causes "first argument must be method name string" in siyuan-note/siyuan?

Pass the method name as a plain string: bind('myMethod', fn)

first argument must be method name string

Error message

first argument must be method name string

What it means

siyuan.rpc.bind validates argument types: the first argument must be a string method name (and, next, the second must be a function). When the first argument is not a string, the call is rejected with this error. The follow-on check for the second argument produces 'second argument must be a function'.

Solutions

Pass the method name as a plain string: bind('myMethod', fn)
Reorder arguments if name and handler were swapped
Convert a non-string name with String(name) only if it is genuinely a name value
Check the upstream variable producing the name for unexpected types

Example fix

// before
siyuan.rpc.bind({name: 'myMethod'}, handler);
// after
siyuan.rpc.bind('myMethod', handler);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

function bindRpc(name, handler, ...descs) {
  if (typeof name !== 'string') {
    throw new TypeError('rpc.bind first argument must be a method name string');
  }
  if (typeof handler !== 'function') {
    throw new TypeError('rpc.bind second argument must be a function');
  }
  return siyuan.rpc.bind(name, handler, ...descs);
}

Type guard

function isRpcName(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && v.length > 0;
}

Try / catch

try {
  siyuan.rpc.bind(name, handler);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('first argument must be method name string')) {
    console.error('rpc.bind name must be a string, got:', typeof name, name);
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Never pass config objects to rpc.bind; use a plain string name
Keep the (name, handler, ...descriptions) argument order
Stringify name-like values explicitly at the call boundary if they come from external data

When it happens

Trigger: Calling rpc.bind({name: 'x'}, fn), rpc.bind(fn, fn), or rpc.bind(123, fn) — any non-string first argument.

Common situations: Passing a config object as the first argument assuming an object-based API; swapping argument order; passing a Symbol/enum-like name value instead of a string.

Understand the failure class

Background: Type mismatch errors: IllegalArgumentException, TypeError and type guards across 150 open-source libraries — this error's family across 150 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@9f775e8a12 (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/735951fa6c77a0bf. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/plugin/api_rpc.go:54

	rpc := rt.NewObject()

	lo.Must0(rpc.Set("bind", rt.ToValue(func(call goja.FunctionCall, rt *goja.Runtime) goja.Value {
		promise, resolve, reject := rt.NewPromise()

		var argErr error
		var name string
		var method goja.Callable
		var descriptions []string
		if len(call.Arguments) < 2 {
			argErr = fmt.Errorf("method name and function required")
		} else {
			nameArg := call.Argument(0)
			methodArg := call.Argument(1)
			descArgs := call.Arguments[2:]
			if goja.IsString(nameArg) {
				name = nameArg.String()
			} else {
				argErr = fmt.Errorf("first argument must be method name string")
			}
			if argErr == nil {
				if methodJs, ok := goja.AssertFunction(methodArg); ok {
					method = methodJs
				} else {
					argErr = fmt.Errorf("second argument must be a function")
				}
			}
			if argErr == nil {
				descriptions = make([]string, len(descArgs))
				for i, a := range descArgs {
					descriptions[i] = a.String()
				}
			}
		}

		runErr := p.worker.Run(func(rt *goja.Runtime) (result any, err error) {
			if argErr != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9f775e8a12)