wavetermdev/waveterm · warning

no files or message provided

Error message

no files or message provided

What it means

The `wsh ai` command requires either file arguments to attach or a message via the -m/--message flag. When invoked with neither, it prints help and returns this error so the CLI exits non-zero, telling the user the invocation was empty.

Source

Thrown at cmd/wsh/cmd/wshcmd-ai.go:76

func getMaxFileSize(mimeType string) (int, string) {
	if mimeType == "application/pdf" {
		return 5 * 1024 * 1024, "5MB"
	}
	if strings.HasPrefix(mimeType, "image/") {
		return 7 * 1024 * 1024, "7MB"
	}
	return 200 * 1024, "200KB"
}

func aiRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (rtnErr error) {
	defer func() {
		sendActivity("ai", rtnErr == nil)
	}()

	if len(args) == 0 && aiMessageFlag == "" {
		OutputHelpMessage(cmd)
		return fmt.Errorf("no files or message provided")
	}

	const maxFileCount = 15
	const rpcTimeout = 30000

	var allFiles []wshrpc.AIAttachedFile
	var stdinUsed bool

	if len(args) > maxFileCount {
		return fmt.Errorf("too many files (maximum %d files allowed)", maxFileCount)
	}

	for _, filePath := range args {
		var data []byte
		var fileName string
		var mimeType string
		var err error

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Provide a message: `wsh ai -m "explain this error"`.
2. Attach files positionally: `wsh ai main.go README.md`.
3. Combine both: `wsh ai -m "review this" main.go`.
4. Run `wsh ai --help` (OutputHelpMessage is shown with the error) to see required flags.
5. In scripts, assert non-empty args before invoking wsh ai.

Example fix

// before
wsh ai
// Error: no files or message provided
// after
wsh ai -m "summarize this project"

if len(args) == 0 && aiMessageFlag == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("wsh ai needs -m <message> or file arguments")
}

if err := runAi(cmd, args); err != nil {
    cmd.SilenceUsage = false
    return err // help message already printed
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `wsh ai` with no positional file args and aiMessageFlag empty (no -m flag); also supplying more than maxFileCount files or oversized files will error separately, but this specific error is the empty-invocation case.

Common situations: Typing `wsh ai` bare to 'test' the command; scripting wsh ai without passing -m or files; forgetting the flag because a positional message was expected.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• too many files (maximum %d files allowed)
• stdin (-) can only be used once
• WAVETERM_TABID environment variable not set
• resolving block: %v
• watching pid: %v

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4c9a1a22f092810f. Report an issue: GitHub.