stablyai/orca · error · Error

GITHUB_REPOSITORY must be in owner/repo form, got "${options

Error message

GITHUB_REPOSITORY must be in owner/repo form, got "${options.repo}".

What it means

Thrown by createGitHubApiClient when options.repo (from GITHUB_REPOSITORY) does not split into a non-empty owner and repo via '/'. The client derives api.owner and api.repo from this single value, so a malformed value (missing slash, empty segment, extra slashes) is fatal.

Source

Thrown at config/scripts/run-release-mac-build-workflow.mjs:149

      `Mac release build workflow is ${run.status}; polling again in ${options.pollSeconds}s`
    )
    await sleep(options.pollSeconds * 1000)
  }

  throw new Error(
    `Timed out after ${options.timeoutMinutes}m waiting for mac release build workflow ${workflowRunId}.`
  )
}

export function createGitHubApiClient(options, deps = {}) {
  const fetchImpl = deps.fetch ?? globalThis.fetch
  if (typeof fetchImpl !== 'function') {
    throw new Error('A fetch implementation is required.')
  }

  const [owner, repo] = options.repo.split('/')
  if (!owner || !repo) {
    throw new Error(`GITHUB_REPOSITORY must be in owner/repo form, got "${options.repo}".`)
  }

  return {
    owner,
    repo,
    async request(method, path, body) {
      const response = await fetchImpl(`${options.apiBaseUrl}${path}`, {
        body: body == null ? undefined : JSON.stringify(body),
        headers: {
          Accept: 'application/vnd.github+json',
          Authorization: `Bearer ${options.token}`,
          'Content-Type': 'application/json',
          'X-GitHub-Api-Version': DEFAULT_API_VERSION
        },
        method
      })
      const text = await response.text()
      const data = text.length > 0 ? JSON.parse(text) : null

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

Set GITHUB_REPOSITORY to exactly owner/repo (e.g. anomaly/orca).
Trim whitespace and remove surrounding quotes from the env value.
If forking, point GITHUB_REPOSITORY at the fork's owner/repo that has the workflow.

Example fix

# before
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=orca
# after
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anomaly/orca

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const [owner, repo] = (env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY ?? '').split('/')
if (!owner || !repo || owner.includes('/') || repo.includes('/')) {
  throw new Error('Set GITHUB_REPOSITORY to owner/repo, e.g. anomaly/orca')
}

Type guard

function isOwnerRepo(value) {
  if (typeof value !== 'string') return false
  const parts = value.split('/')
  return parts.length === 2 && parts.every((p) => p.length > 0)
}

Try / catch

try {
  api = createGitHubApiClient(options)
} catch (err) {
  if (/GITHUB_REPOSITORY must be in owner/repo form/.test(err.message)) {
    // fix the env var and reconstruct
  }
  throw err
}

Prevention

Validate GITHUB_REPOSITORY format in a preflight before constructing the client.
Trim whitespace and strip quotes when reading the env var.
Document the expected owner/repo form at the script entrypoint.

When it happens

Trigger: GITHUB_REPOSITORY is unset (caught earlier by requiredEnv), set to just 'orca', 'orca/', '/orca', 'a/b/c', or contains only whitespace such that owner or repo is empty after split.

Common situations: Running outside GitHub Actions where GITHUB_REPOSITORY is not auto-set, manual override with a typo, value copied with surrounding quotes/whitespace, fork rename not reflected.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cce7826f009e0b15. Report an issue: GitHub.