usebruno/bruno · warning · Error

Invalid format: ${format}

Error message

Invalid format: ${format}

What it means

Thrown by searchForRequestFiles in the else-branch when format is not 'yml' or 'bru'. In practice this branch is unreachable: format comes from getCollectionFormat, which only returns 'yml' or 'bru' (or throws 'No collection configuration found' itself). The throw is defensive against a future change to getCollectionFormat's return set.

Source

Thrown at packages/bruno-electron/src/utils/filesystem.js:238

    const stat = fs.statSync(filePath);
    if (stat.isDirectory()) {
      results = results.concat(searchForFiles(filePath, extension));
    } else if (path.extname(file) === extension) {
      results.push(filePath);
    }
  }
  return results;
};

// Search for request files based on collection filetype by reading config
const searchForRequestFiles = (dir, collectionPath = null) => {
  const format = getCollectionFormat(collectionPath || dir);
  if (format === 'yml') {
    return searchForFiles(dir, '.yml');
  } else if (format === 'bru') {
    return searchForFiles(dir, '.bru');
  } else {
    throw new Error(`Invalid format: ${format}`);
  }
};

const sanitizeName = (name) => {
  const invalidCharacters = /[<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]/g;
  name = name
    .replace(invalidCharacters, '-') // replace invalid characters with hyphens
    .replace(/^[\s\-]+/, '') // remove leading spaces and hyphens
    .replace(/[.\s]+$/, ''); // remove trailing dots and spaces
  return name;
};

const isWindowsOS = () => {
  return os.platform() === 'win32';
};

/**
 * Generate a unique name by adding a "copy" suffix if needed

View on GitHub (pinned to 9bdd81c7bd)

Solutions

1. Treat as an invariant assertion; if it fires, sync the format switch in searchForRequestFiles with getCollectionFormat's return values.
2. Add a test asserting searchForRequestFiles covers every value getCollectionFormat can return.
3. If extending formats, update both functions together.

Example fix

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

// after: exhaustive dispatch
switch (format) {
  case 'yml': return searchForFiles(dir, '.yml');
  case 'bru': return searchForFiles(dir, '.bru');
  default: throw new Error(`searchForRequestFiles: unsupported format '${format}' from getCollectionFormat`);
}

// Defensive only: getCollectionFormat never returns a third value today.
// If you extend it, update this switch in lockstep.
const format = getCollectionFormat(dir);
assert(['yml', 'bru'].includes(format), `unexpected format ${format}`);

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

try {
  return searchForRequestFiles(dir, collectionPath);
} catch (err) {
  if (err.message.startsWith('Invalid format')) {
    // getCollectionFormat returned something new; fall back to .bru
    return searchForFiles(dir, '.bru');
  }
  throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Effectively unreachable unless getCollectionFormat is modified to return a third value. Under current code, if neither opencollection.yml nor bruno.json exists, getCollectionFormat throws 'No collection configuration found' before this line is hit.

Common situations: Encountered only during refactors that extend getCollectionFormat with new formats without updating searchForRequestFiles; or if a caller bypasses getCollectionFormat and feeds a raw format through a different path.

Related errors

• path: ${itemPath} is not a valid request file
• path: ${oldPath} is not a valid request file
• Failed to export ${environmentType} environments.
• Failed to process ${parsedFile.fileName}: ${err.message}
• Failed to parse the file – ensure it is valid JSON or YAML

AI-assisted analysis of usebruno/bruno@9bdd81c7bd (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d3a6414368efe17d. Report an issue: GitHub.