zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw · error · anyhow::Error

Declarative cron job '{id}': shell_output_format is shell-on

Error message

Declarative cron job '{id}': shell_output_format is shell-only and cannot be set on an agent job

What it means

shell_output_format (wrapped or raw) only controls how a shell job's stdout/stderr is formatted, so validate_decl rejects it on agent jobs. Setting it on job_type = "agent" is a config mistake that would otherwise be silently ignored; validation fails during sync_declarative_jobs before any DB write.

Source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-runtime/src/cron/store.rs:1417

    }

    match decl.job_type.to_lowercase().as_str() {
        "shell" => {
            if decl.command.as_deref().is_none_or(|c| c.trim().is_empty()) {
                anyhow::bail!(
                    "Declarative cron job '{id}': shell job requires a non-empty 'command'"
                );
            }
        }
        "agent" => {
            if decl.prompt.as_deref().is_none_or(|p| p.trim().is_empty()) {
                anyhow::bail!(
                    "Declarative cron job '{id}': agent job requires a non-empty 'prompt'"
                );
            }
            if decl.shell_output_format != zeroclaw_config::schema::CronShellOutputFormat::default()
            {
                anyhow::bail!(
                    "Declarative cron job '{id}': shell_output_format is shell-only and cannot be set on an agent job"
                );
            }
        }
        other => {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "Declarative cron job '{id}': invalid job_type '{other}', expected 'shell' or 'agent'"
            );
        }
    }

    Ok(())
}

/// Convert a `CronScheduleDecl` to the runtime `Schedule` type.
fn convert_schedule_decl(decl: &zeroclaw_config::schema::CronScheduleDecl) -> Result<Schedule> {
    use zeroclaw_config::schema::CronScheduleDecl;
    match decl {

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)

Solutions

1. Remove the shell_output_format line from the agent job
2. Or set job_type = "shell" if the raw output format was intentional

Example fix

# before
[cron.report]
job_type = "agent"
prompt = "Write the weekly report."
shell_output_format = "raw"

# after
[cron.report]
job_type = "agent"
prompt = "Write the weekly report."

use zeroclaw_config::schema::CronShellOutputFormat;
for (id, decl) in &decls {
    if decl.job_type.eq_ignore_ascii_case("agent")
        && decl.shell_output_format != CronShellOutputFormat::default()
    {
        anyhow::bail!("cron job '{id}': shell_output_format is shell-only");
    }
}

fn agent_decl_has_no_shell_format(decl: &zeroclaw_config::schema::CronJobDecl) -> bool {
    !decl.job_type.eq_ignore_ascii_case("agent")
        || decl.shell_output_format == zeroclaw_config::schema::CronShellOutputFormat::default()
}

if let Err(err) = zeroclaw_runtime::cron::sync_declarative_jobs(&config, &decls) {
    if err.to_string().contains("shell_output_format") {
        eprintln!("config error: remove shell_output_format from agent cron jobs");
    }
    return Err(err);
}

When it happens

Trigger: A [cron.<id>] table with job_type = "agent" and shell_output_format = "raw" (any value other than the default "wrapped").

Common situations: Copying a shell job block and changing job_type to "agent" while leaving shell_output_format behind; experimenting with raw output on a job that was later converted to an agent job.

Understand the failure class

Background: Config validation failed: what "invalid value for {key}" and settings-rejection errors mean across 19 open-source libraries — this error's family across 19 libraries.

Related errors

• Declarative cron job '{id}': agent job requires a non-empty
• Declarative cron job has empty id
• Declarative cron job '{id}': shell job requires a non-empty
• Declarative cron job '{id}': invalid job_type '{other}', exp
• ACP request_permission failed: {} ({})

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/bdf089662c6cda8b. Report an issue: GitHub.