wavetermdev/waveterm · error

too many arguments. wsh %s requires exactly one argument

Error message

too many arguments.  wsh %s requires exactly one argument

What it means

The wsh view command accepts exactly one positional argument: a single file path or URL. viewRun enforces `len(args) > 1` and rejects the invocation, printing help plus this error, because there is no defined behavior for multiple targets in one command call.

Source

Thrown at cmd/wsh/cmd/wshcmd-view.go:54

func init() {
	viewCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&viewMagnified, "magnified", "m", false, "open view in magnified mode")
	rootCmd.AddCommand(viewCmd)
	editCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&viewMagnified, "magnified", "m", false, "open view in magnified mode")
	rootCmd.AddCommand(editCmd)
}

func viewRun(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (rtnErr error) {
	cmdName := cmd.Name()
	defer func() {
		sendActivity(cmdName, rtnErr == nil)
	}()
	if len(args) == 0 {
		OutputHelpMessage(cmd)
		return fmt.Errorf("no arguments.  wsh %s requires a file or URL as an argument argument", cmdName)
	}
	if len(args) > 1 {
		OutputHelpMessage(cmd)
		return fmt.Errorf("too many arguments.  wsh %s requires exactly one argument", cmdName)
	}
	tabId := getTabIdFromEnv()
	if tabId == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("no WAVETERM_TABID env var set")
	}
	fileArg := args[0]
	conn := RpcContext.Conn
	var wshCmd *wshrpc.CommandCreateBlockData
	if strings.HasPrefix(fileArg, "http://") || strings.HasPrefix(fileArg, "https://") {
		wshCmd = &wshrpc.CommandCreateBlockData{
			TabId: tabId,
			BlockDef: &waveobj.BlockDef{
				Meta: map[string]any{
					waveobj.MetaKey_View: "web",
					waveobj.MetaKey_Url:  fileArg,
				},
			},
			Magnified: viewMagnified,

View on GitHub (pinned to a4447c1563)

Solutions

1. Pass exactly one target; quote paths containing spaces: `wsh view "my file.txt"`
2. Open multiple files with separate invocations: `wsh view a.md && wsh view b.md`
3. Check `echo $#` or your wrapper's arg count before delegating to wsh

Example fix

// before
$ wsh view my file.txt   // two args -> error

// after
$ wsh view "my file.txt"

set -- "$@"
if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then echo "wsh view takes exactly one argument" >&2; exit 2; fi
wsh view "$1"

When it happens

Trigger: Running `wsh view file1 file2` or any invocation with two or more positional arguments, e.g. unquoted paths with spaces (`wsh view my file.txt` expands to two args) or leftover extra args in a script.

Common situations: Unquoted paths containing spaces in shell scripts; users trying to open several files at once; accidental extra flags parsed as positional args after `--`.

Related errors

• stdin (-) can only be used once
• no arguments. wsh %s requires a file or URL as an argument
• no arguments. wsh wavepath requires a type argument (config,
• too many arguments. wsh wavepath requires exactly one argume
• invalid path type %q. must be one of: config, data, log

AI-assisted analysis of wavetermdev/waveterm@a4447c1563 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/73a8355afdea261a. Report an issue: GitHub.