wavetermdev/waveterm · error

invalid object reference: %q

Error message

invalid object reference: %q

What it means

parseORef rejects any string that does not split on ':' into exactly two fields, returning 'invalid object reference: %q'. An ORef must be 'type:oid' (e.g. 'block:xxx'). This is a client-side argument validation error thrown before any DB access, and it propagates through GetObject, GetObjects, and UpdateObjectMeta.

Source

Thrown at pkg/service/objectservice/objectservice.go:27

	"strings"
	"time"

	"github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/pkg/tsgen/tsgenmeta"
	"github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/pkg/waveobj"
	"github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/pkg/wcore"
	"github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/pkg/wps"
	"github.com/wavetermdev/waveterm/pkg/wstore"
)

type ObjectService struct{}

const DefaultTimeout = 2 * time.Second
const ConnContextTimeout = 60 * time.Second

func parseORef(oref string) (*waveobj.ORef, error) {
	fields := strings.Split(oref, ":")
	if len(fields) != 2 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid object reference: %q", oref)
	}
	return &waveobj.ORef{OType: fields[0], OID: fields[1]}, nil
}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObject_Meta() tsgenmeta.MethodMeta {
	return tsgenmeta.MethodMeta{
		Desc:     "get wave object by oref",
		ArgNames: []string{"oref"},
	}
}

func (svc *ObjectService) GetObject(orefStr string) (waveobj.WaveObj, error) {
	oref, err := parseORef(orefStr)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	ctx, cancelFn := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), DefaultTimeout)
	defer cancelFn()

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Ensure the string is exactly 'type:oid' with a single ':' (e.g. 'block:B123')
2. Strip any scheme/prefix decoration before passing
3. Build refs programmatically with waveobj.ORef{OType, OID}.String() instead of string concatenation

Example fix

// before
obj, err := svc.GetObject(ctx, "block:B123:extra")
// after
obj, err := svc.GetObject(ctx, (waveobj.ORef{OType: "block", OID: "B123"}).String())

func validORef(s string) bool {
    parts := strings.Split(s, ":")
    return len(parts) == 2 && parts[0] != "" && parts[1] != ""
}
if !validORef(orefStr) { return fmt.Errorf("bad oref %q", orefStr) }

func isORef(s string) bool { return len(strings.Split(s, ":")) == 2 }

oref, err := parseORef(input)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("bad ref %q: %w", input, err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an oref with zero or multiple colons, an empty string, a bare OID without the type prefix, or a full URI with extra ':' segments (e.g. 'wave://block:id').

Common situations: Constructing ORefs by hand instead of via waveobj.ORef helpers; storing/logging orefs with added prefixes; copy-pasting identifiers from logs that include scheme prefixes.

Related errors

• invalid format of user@host argument
• error parsing object reference: %w
• invalid oref string: %v
• invalid data URL: must start with 'data:'
• oref is required

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/df7406461cb9b5ef. Report an issue: GitHub.