usebruno/bruno · error · Error

Invalid format: ${format}

Error message

Invalid format: ${format}

What it means

Thrown by importCollection when the format argument is neither 'yml' nor 'bru'. The function defaults format to DEFAULT_COLLECTION_FORMAT, so this branch only fires if a caller explicitly passes an unsupported value.

Source

Thrown at packages/bruno-electron/src/utils/collection-import.js:125

  if (format === 'yml') {
    brunoConfig.opencollection = '1.0.0';
    const collectionContent = await stringifyCollection(collection.root, brunoConfig, { format });
    await writeFile(path.join(collectionPath, 'opencollection.yml'), collectionContent);
  } else if (format === 'bru') {
    const bruJsonConfig = { ...brunoConfig, version: '1' };
    if (brunoConfig.version) {
      bruJsonConfig.collectionVersion = brunoConfig.version;
    } else {
      delete bruJsonConfig.collectionVersion;
    }
    const stringifiedBrunoConfig = await stringifyJson(bruJsonConfig);
    await writeFile(path.join(collectionPath, 'bruno.json'), stringifiedBrunoConfig);

    const collectionContent = await stringifyCollection(collection.root, brunoConfig, { format });
    await writeFile(path.join(collectionPath, 'collection.bru'), collectionContent);
  } else {
    throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${format}`);
  }

  const { size, filesCount } = await getCollectionStats(collectionPath);
  brunoConfig.size = size;
  brunoConfig.filesCount = filesCount;

  // Send collection-opened event unless caller wants to handle it themselves (e.g., during onboarding)
  if (!options.skipOpenEvent) {
    mainWindow.webContents.send('main:collection-opened', collectionPath, uid, brunoConfig);
    ipcMain.emit('main:collection-opened', mainWindow, collectionPath, uid, brunoConfig);
  }

  // create folder and files based on collection
  await parseCollectionItems(collection.items, collectionPath);
  await parseEnvironments(collection.environments, collectionPath);

  return { collectionPath, uid, brunoConfig };
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 9bdd81c7bd)

Solutions

1. Whitelist format to 'bru' | 'yml' at the IPC boundary and reject unknown values before importCollection.
2. Fall back to DEFAULT_COLLECTION_FORMAT when format is missing or unsupported rather than throwing mid-write.
3. Ensure the renderer/import dialog only offers the two supported formats.

Example fix

// before
} else {
  throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${format}`);
}

// after: coerce at entry
const SUPPORTED = new Set(['bru', 'yml']);
const safeFormat = SUPPORTED.has(format) ? format : DEFAULT_COLLECTION_FORMAT;

const SUPPORTED_FORMATS = new Set(['bru', 'yml']);
const safeFormat = SUPPORTED_FORMATS.has(format) ? format : DEFAULT_COLLECTION_FORMAT;
await importCollection(collection, collectionLocation, mainWindow, uniqueFolderName, safeFormat, options);

function isSupportedFormat(format) {
  return format === 'bru' || format === 'yml';
}

try {
  await importCollection(collection, collectionLocation, mainWindow, uniqueFolderName, format, options);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.startsWith('Invalid format')) {
    return importCollection(collection, collectionLocation, mainWindow, uniqueFolderName, DEFAULT_COLLECTION_FORMAT, options);
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling importCollection(..., format) with undefined replaced by an invalid string, or a format value from an unversioned import source (e.g. a legacy 'json' format) that the writer does not support.

Common situations: Forwarding an unvalidated format from a file-picker/CLI/import-dialog; version skew between the importer UI and the supported formats; passing null which then bypasses the default param.

Related errors

• Invalid environment: expected an object
• Invalid environment: missing or invalid variables array
• Invalid variable at index ${index}: expected an object
• Invalid variable at index ${index}: missing or invalid name
• No files provided

AI-assisted analysis of usebruno/bruno@9bdd81c7bd (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/862eb270ddca2a6c. Report an issue: GitHub.