What causes "Expected a positive integer, got "${rawValue}"." in stablyai/orca?

Set the env var to a positive integer with no units (e.g. RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS=30).

stablyai/orca · error · Error

Expected a positive integer, got "${rawValue}".

Error message

Expected a positive integer, got "${rawValue}".

What it means

Thrown by readPositiveInteger when an env value for a numeric release-build setting (RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS or RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_TIMEOUT_MINUTES) is present but not a positive integer. Empty/null falls back to the default; any other value is parsed with Number() and must satisfy Number.isInteger(value) && value > 0.

Source

Thrown at config/scripts/run-release-mac-build-workflow.mjs:206

  return null
}

function formatApiError(data) {
  if (typeof data?.message === 'string') {
    return data.message
  }

  return JSON.stringify(data)
}

function readPositiveInteger(rawValue, defaultValue) {
  if (rawValue == null || rawValue === '') {
    return defaultValue
  }

  const value = Number(rawValue)
  if (!Number.isInteger(value) || value <= 0) {
    throw new Error(`Expected a positive integer, got "${rawValue}".`)
  }

  return value
}

function requiredEnv(value, name) {
  if (value == null || value === '') {
    throw new Error(`${name} is required.`)
  }

  return value
}

function sleepMilliseconds(milliseconds) {
  return new Promise((resolve) => {
    setTimeout(resolve, milliseconds)
  })
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

Set the env var to a positive integer with no units (e.g. RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS=30).
Leave it unset/empty to use the documented default (poll 30s, timeout 90m).
Strip units and whitespace before exporting.

Example fix

# before
RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS=30s
# after
RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS=30

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function parsePositiveIntEnv(rawValue, defaultValue, name) {
  if (rawValue == null || rawValue === '') return defaultValue
  const value = Number(rawValue)
  if (!Number.isInteger(value) || value <= 0) {
    throw new Error(`${name} must be a positive integer, got "${rawValue}"`)
  }
  return value
}

Type guard

function isPositiveIntegerString(value) {
  return typeof value === 'string' && /^\d+$/.test(value) && Number(value) > 0
}

Try / catch

try {
  options = readReleaseMacBuildWorkflowOptions(process.env)
} catch (err) {
  if (/Expected a positive integer/.test(err.message)) {
    // list the offending env var and acceptable values
    process.exit(2)
  }
  throw err
}

Prevention

Document which env vars accept positive integers and their defaults.
Reject units/whitespace at the source (strip in shell, not in code).
Leave numeric env vars unset to use safe defaults rather than passing 0.

When it happens

Trigger: Setting RELEASE_MAC_BUILD_POLL_SECONDS=0, =-5, =1.5, =abc, or =30s. Number() yields a non-integer or non-positive value, failing the guard.

Common situations: Units included in the value ('30s'), decimals where integers are required, zero/negative mistaken as 'disabled', stray whitespace or quotes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/017ac5100caa8ac7. Report an issue: GitHub.