thedotmack/claude-mem · error

Missing required argument: name

Error message

Missing required argument: name

What it means

Validation error in the prime_corpus tool handler. After destructuring args, the handler checks typeof name !== 'string' || name.trim() === '' and throws this plain Error. It fires before the POST /api/corpus/<name>/prime call is made to the worker.

Source

Thrown at src/servers/mcp-server.ts:828

    },
    handler: async (args: any) => {
      return await callWorker('/api/corpus', { query: args });
    }
  },
  {
    name: 'prime_corpus',
    description: 'Prime a knowledge corpus — creates an AI session loaded with the corpus knowledge. Must be called before query_corpus.',
    inputSchema: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        name: { type: 'string', description: 'Name of the corpus to prime' }
      },
      required: ['name'],
      additionalProperties: true
    },
    handler: async (args: any) => {
      const { name, ...rest } = args;
      if (typeof name !== 'string' || name.trim() === '') throw new Error('Missing required argument: name');
      return await callWorker(`/api/corpus/${encodeURIComponent(name)}/prime`, { body: rest });
    }
  },
  {
    name: 'query_corpus',
    description: 'Ask a question to a primed knowledge corpus. The corpus must be primed first with prime_corpus.',
    inputSchema: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        name: { type: 'string', description: 'Name of the corpus to query' },
        question: { type: 'string', description: 'The question to ask' }
      },
      required: ['name', 'question'],
      additionalProperties: true
    },
    handler: async (args: any) => {
      const { name, ...rest } = args;
      if (typeof name !== 'string' || name.trim() === '') throw new Error('Missing required argument: name');

View on GitHub (pinned to d768ba3643)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-empty name string identifying an existing or new corpus.
2. Confirm the corpus exists (or that prime is allowed to create it) before calling query_corpus.
3. Validate name is a non-empty string on the caller side.

Example fix

// before
await tools.prime_corpus({});
// throws 'Missing required argument: name'

// after
await tools.prime_corpus({ name: 'auth-docs' });

if (typeof args?.name !== 'string' || args.name.trim() === '') {
  return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'prime_corpus: name is required' }], isError: true };
}

function hasCorpusName(v: unknown): v is { name: string } {
  return typeof (v as any)?.name === 'string' && (v as any).name.trim().length > 0;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling prime_corpus with name omitted, non-string, or whitespace-only. The MCP schema lists name as required but additionalProperties is true, so malformed calls can still reach the handler.

Common situations: LLM client passes { question: '...' } but forgets name; name read from a config that was empty; caller confused prime (needs name only) with query (needs name + question).

Related errors

• "${key}" is required
• Unknown tool: ${name}
• observation_add: "content" is required
• observation_record_event: "eventType" is required
• observation_search: "query" is required

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@d768ba3643 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e6eeb20073e1540b. Report an issue: GitHub.