stablyai/orca · error · Error

content is required

Error message

content is required

What it means

Thrown by the 'fs:saveDownloadedFile' handler (src/main/ipc/filesystem.ts:692) when args.content is not a string. This handler is the 'save already-fetched content' path (distinct from the streaming start/append/finish flow); the contract requires content be passed as a utf8 or base64 string. Non-string payloads are rejected at the IPC boundary before any disk write.

Source

Thrown at src/main/ipc/filesystem.ts:692

          await cleanupLocalTransferPath(tempPath)
        }
      }
    }
  )

  registerFilesystemDownloadFolderHandlers()

  ipcMain.handle(
    'fs:saveDownloadedFile',
    async (
      event,
      args: { suggestedName?: string; content?: string; encoding?: 'utf8' | 'base64' }
    ): Promise<DownloadFileResult> => {
      const suggestedName = sanitizeLocalDownloadFilename(
        validateRequiredString(args?.suggestedName, 'suggestedName')
      )
      if (typeof args?.content !== 'string') {
        throw new Error('content is required')
      }
      const content = args.content
      const encoding = args?.encoding === 'base64' ? 'base64' : 'utf8'
      const parentWindow = BrowserWindow.fromWebContents(event.sender) ?? undefined
      const dialogResult = parentWindow
        ? await dialog.showSaveDialog(parentWindow, { defaultPath: suggestedName })
        : await dialog.showSaveDialog({ defaultPath: suggestedName })
      if (dialogResult.canceled || !dialogResult.filePath) {
        return { canceled: true }
      }

      const destinationPath = dialogResult.filePath
      const { existed } = await inspectDownloadDestination(destinationPath)
      const tempPath = createSiblingTransferPath(destinationPath, 'download')
      let promoted = false
      try {
        await writeFile(tempPath, decodeDownloadedFileContent(content, encoding))
        await promoteDownloadedFile(tempPath, destinationPath, existed)

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

1. Pass content as a string, with encoding:'base64' for binary data, in the invoke payload.
2. For large or streaming files, switch to fs:startDownloadedFile + fs:appendDownloadedFileChunk + fs:finishDownloadedFile instead of fs:saveDownloadedFile.
3. Add a renderer-side type check on the payload so the error surfaces at the call site, not over IPC.

Example fix

// before: content missing
await invoke('fs:saveDownloadedFile', { suggestedName: 'log.txt' })

// after: content provided, base64 for binary
await invoke('fs:saveDownloadedFile', {
  suggestedName: 'logo.png',
  content: bytes.toString('base64'),
  encoding: 'base64'
})

function isValidSaveArgs(a: unknown): a is { suggestedName: string; content: string; encoding?: 'utf8' | 'base64' } {
  return typeof (a as any)?.suggestedName === 'string'
    && typeof (a as any)?.content === 'string'
}

const isStringContent = (a: unknown): a is { content: string } =>
  typeof (a as { content?: unknown })?.content === 'string'

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ipcRenderer.invoke('fs:saveDownloadedFile', { suggestedName, content }) with content omitted, undefined, null, a number, or a binary buffer/TypedArray instead of a base64 string. The `typeof args?.content !== 'string'` guard fires before sanitizeLocalDownloadFilename is reached again.

Common situations: Renderer refactor that stopped threading content through; a binary file saved without setting encoding:'base64'; a code path passing a Uint8Array/Buffer directly; an event payload that was JSON-round-tripped and dropped an undefined field.

Related errors

• Selected file is not a markdown document.
• Cannot download to a directory
• Cannot download a directory
• Repo path must be an absolute path
• Couldn't verify the SSH connection. Reconnect the host and t

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/031ecf5a39b103f8. Report an issue: GitHub.