usebruno/bruno · warning · Error

path: ${newFilename} is not a valid filename

Error message

path: ${newFilename} is not a valid filename

What it means

Thrown by 'renderer:rename-item-filename' when validateName(newFilename) returns false. validateName rejects names containing <>:"/\|?* or control chars, names starting with space/hyphen, names ending with dot/space, names over 255 chars, and Windows reserved device names (CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM[0-9], LPT[0-9]).

Source

Thrown at packages/bruno-electron/src/ipc/collection.js:1160

         */
        if (isWindowsOSAndNotWSLPathAndItemHasSubDirectories) {
          await fsExtra.copy(oldPath, tempDir);
          await fsExtra.remove(oldPath);
          await fsExtra.move(tempDir, newPath, { overwrite: true });
          await fsExtra.remove(tempDir);
        } else {
          await fs.renameSync(oldPath, newPath);
        }

        return newPath;
      }

      if (!hasRequestExtension(oldPath, format)) {
        throw new Error(`path: ${oldPath} is not a valid request file`);
      }

      if (!validateName(newFilename)) {
        throw new Error(`path: ${newFilename} is not a valid filename`);
      }

      // update name in file and save new copy, then delete old copy
      const data = await fs.promises.readFile(oldPath, 'utf8'); // Use async read
      const jsonData = parseRequest(data, { format });
      jsonData.name = newName;
      moveRequestUid(oldPath, newPath);

      const content = stringifyRequest(jsonData, { format });
      await fs.promises.unlink(oldPath);
      await writeFile(newPath, content);

      return newPath;
    } catch (error) {
      // in case the rename file operations fails, and we see that the temp dir exists
      // and the old path does not exist, we need to restore the data from the temp dir to the old path
      if (isWindowsOSAndNotWSLPathAndItemHasSubDirectories) {
        if (fsExtra.pathExistsSync(tempDir) && !fsExtra.pathExistsSync(oldPath)) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9bdd81c7bd)

Solutions

1. Sanitize the proposed name (strip/replace forbidden chars) before invoking rename.
2. Run the same validateName regex client-side to give inline feedback.
3. Trim leading/trailing whitespace and dots, and reject names >255 chars in the UI.

Example fix

// before
await window.Ipc.invoke('renderer:rename-item-filename', { oldPath, newPath, newName, newFilename: 'my/request', collectionPathname });

// after
const safe = newFilename.replace(/[<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]/g, '_').replace(/^[\s-]+/, '').replace(/[.\s]+$/, '');
await window.Ipc.invoke('renderer:rename-item-filename', { oldPath, newPath: path.join(path.dirname(oldPath), safe), newName, newFilename: safe, collectionPathname });

function validateNameClient(name: string): boolean {
  if (name.length > 255) return false;
  if (/^(CON|PRN|AUX|NUL|COM[0-9]|LPT[0-9])$/i.test(name)) return false;
  return /^[^\s\-<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]/.test(name)
    && /^[^<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]*$/.test(name)
    && /[^.\s<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]$/.test(name);
}
if (!validateNameClient(newFilename)) {
  throw new Error('filename contains invalid characters');
}

function isValidFilename(name: unknown): name is string {
  if (typeof name !== 'string' || name.length === 0 || name.length > 255) return false;
  if (/^(CON|PRN|AUX|NUL|COM[0-9]|LPT[0-9])$/i.test(name)) return false;
  return /^[^\s\-<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]/.test(name)
    && /^[^<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]*$/.test(name)
    && /[^.\s<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1F]$/.test(name);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Typing a filename with slashes, colons (common on Mac paste), trailing dots, leading spaces, reserved Windows names, or names longer than 255 characters.

Common situations: Cross-platform filename rules (user on macOS using ':' or '/'), copy-paste carrying illegal chars, or a script generating names with forbidden characters.

Related errors

• path: ${itemPath} is not a valid request file
• path: ${newPath} already exists
• path: ${oldPath} is not a valid request file
• Mock server id is required.
• Workspace path is required.

AI-assisted analysis of usebruno/bruno@9bdd81c7bd (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d4f9f9d935175549. Report an issue: GitHub.