usestrix/strix · error · ValueError

--target-list path must not be empty.

Error message

--target-list path must not be empty.

What it means

read_target_list_file validates its input before touching the filesystem: an empty or whitespace-only path string for --target-list is rejected immediately. This distinguishes 'the flag was passed with nothing' from 'the file does not exist', giving an actionable message early.

Source

Thrown at strix/interface/utils.py:1212

    raise ValueError(
        f"Invalid target: {target}\n"
        "Target must be one of:\n"
        "- A valid URL (http:// or https://)\n"
        "- A Git repository URL (https://host/org/repo or git@host:org/repo.git)\n"
        "- A local directory path\n"
        "- An API spec file (OpenAPI/Swagger .json/.yaml or a Postman collection)\n"
        "- A Postman collection by id (postman://<collection-uid>[?env=<environment-uid>], "
        "needs POSTMAN_API_KEY)\n"
        "- A domain name (e.g., example.com)\n"
        "- An IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.10)"
    )


def read_target_list_file(path_str: str) -> list[str]:
    """Read scan targets from a file, one target per non-empty, non-comment line."""
    if not path_str or not path_str.strip():
        raise ValueError("--target-list path must not be empty.")

    path = Path(path_str).expanduser()
    if not path.is_file():
        raise ValueError(f"Target list file '{path_str}' is not an existing file.")

    try:
        targets = [
            target
            for line in path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines()
            if (target := line.strip()) and not target.startswith("#")
        ]
    except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
        raise ValueError(f"Target list file '{path_str}' must be valid UTF-8 text: {e!s}") from e
    except OSError as e:
        raise ValueError(f"Failed to read target list file '{path_str}': {e!s}") from e

    targets = [target for target in targets if target]
    if not targets:

View on GitHub (pinned to 8551339130)

Solutions

1. Provide a real path: --target-list targets.txt pointing to a UTF-8 file with one target per line.
2. In scripts, default the variable: TARGETS_FILE=${TARGETS_FILE:-targets.txt}.
3. Verify the file exists and contains uncommented target lines before the run.

Example fix

# before
strix -n --target-list "$TARGETS_FILE"   # unset -> empty string

# after
TARGETS_FILE="${TARGETS_FILE:-targets.txt}"
strix -n --target-list "$TARGETS_FILE"

path_str = (path_str or "").strip()
if not path_str:
    raise SystemExit("--target-list requires a file path")
targets = read_target_list_file(path_str)

def is_non_empty_path_str(s: object) -> bool:
    return isinstance(s, str) and bool(s.strip())

try:
    targets = read_target_list_file(path_str)
except ValueError as e:
    if "must not be empty" in str(e):
        raise SystemExit("Provide --target-list <file> with one target per line") from e
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Calling read_target_list_file(''), read_target_list_file(' '), or a CLI invocation where --target-list's value came from an unset shell/env variable.

Common situations: CI YAML like --target-list ${TARGETS_FILE} with the variable unset; a wrapper script echoing an empty default; a stray flag with no argument followed by another flag.

Related errors

• Unsupported scope mode: {scope_mode}
• Target must be a non-empty string
• Invalid target: {target} Target must be one of: - A valid UR
• Target list file '{path_str}' is not an existing file.
• Target list file '{path_str}' is empty.

AI-assisted analysis of usestrix/strix@8551339130 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0626afbf92a33959. Report an issue: GitHub.