[verify-skills-cli-runtime] skills get ${topic} returned the

Error message

[verify-skills-cli-runtime] skills get ${topic} returned the wrong guide

What it means

Thrown by verifySkillsCliRuntime() when skills get <topic> returns a guide whose body does not contain the string 'name: <topic>'. The script runs skills get <topic> (no --json) and checks guide.includes(`name: ${topic}`). This validates that the guide output is for the correct topic and not a stub, empty string, or wrong-topic response.

Source

Thrown at config/scripts/verify-skills-cli-runtime.cjs:188

    throw new Error(`[verify-skills-cli-runtime] ${label} emitted invalid JSON:\n${output}`)
  }
}

function verifySkillsCliRuntime(outDir, artifactRoot = dirname(outDir), options = {}) {
  const absoluteOutDir = resolve(outDir)
  const closure = collectRuntimeClosure(absoluteOutDir, resolve(artifactRoot))
  if (options.executeCommands === false) {
    return { closureFiles: closure.length, commands: 0 }
  }
  const list = parseJson('skills list', runCli(absoluteOutDir, ['skills', 'list', '--json']))
  const topicNames = new Set(list.topics?.map((topic) => topic.name))
  for (const topic of ['orca-cli', 'computer-use']) {
    if (!topicNames.has(topic)) {
      throw new Error(`[verify-skills-cli-runtime] skills list omitted ${topic}`)
    }
    const guide = runCli(absoluteOutDir, ['skills', 'get', topic])
    if (!guide.includes(`name: ${topic}`)) {
      throw new Error(`[verify-skills-cli-runtime] skills get ${topic} returned the wrong guide`)
    }
  }

  const install = parseJson(
    'skills install --dry-run',
    runCli(absoluteOutDir, [
      'skills',
      'install',
      '--skill',
      'orca-cli',
      '--agent',
      'codex',
      '--dry-run',
      '--json'
    ])
  )
  const update = parseJson(
    'skills update --dry-run',

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

Run skills get orca-cli and verify the output contains a line matching 'name: orca-cli' (exact format).
If the guide format was intentionally changed, update the includes() check to match the new format.
If the wrong guide is returned, debug the skills get argument parsing — confirm the topic name reaches the guide loader.
If the guide is empty, check that the topic's guide file exists and is readable in the build output.

Example fix

// before: guide format changed to markdown heading
// guide = '## orca-cli\n...'
if (!guide.includes(`name: ${topic}`)) { throw ... }

// after: check the new heading format
if (!guide.includes(`## ${topic}`) && !guide.includes(`name: ${topic}`)) { throw ... }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function validateGuide(guide, topic) {
  const markers = [`name: ${topic}`, `## ${topic}`, `# ${topic}`]
  if (!markers.some((m) => guide.includes(m))) {
    throw new Error(`Guide for ${topic} does not contain any expected name marker`)
  }
}

Type guard

function isNonEmptyGuide(value) {
  return typeof value === 'string' && value.trim().length > 0
}

Try / catch

try {
  const guide = runCli(outDir, ['skills', 'get', topic])
  if (!isNonEmptyGuide(guide)) {
    throw new Error(`skills get ${topic} returned empty guide`)
  }
  validateGuide(guide, topic)
} catch (err) {
  console.error(`Guide validation failed for ${topic}:`, err.message)
  throw err
}

Prevention

When changing the guide format, update the includes() marker check in the same commit.
Add a snapshot test for the skills get output format.
Ensure the guide loader validates the topic argument before returning content.

When it happens

Trigger: runCli(outDir, ['skills', 'get', topic]) returns a guide string that does not contain the literal 'name: orca-cli' or 'name: computer-use'. Caused by: the guide format changing (e.g. 'name: ' prefix removed), the guide being empty, the wrong topic's guide being returned, or frontmatter using a different key.

Common situations: A guide template change that reformats the name line (e.g. '## orca-cli' instead of 'name: orca-cli'); a bug where skills get ignores its argument and always returns a default guide; the guide file missing its name field in frontmatter after an edit.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f2a4adbbe8fe3d88. Report an issue: GitHub.