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

unsupported room visibility '{other}': expected private or p

Error message

unsupported room visibility '{other}': expected private or public

What it means

The `channels add` subcommand (ChannelCommands::Add arm in handle_command, src/channels/mod.rs:74) is intentionally not implemented and unconditionally bails with remediation text. Channel configuration lives in TOML under `channels.<type>.<alias>.<field>`, so adding a channel is done through `zeroclaw config set` or by editing the config file directly. No partial work happens; the command exits non-zero immediately.

Source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-api/src/channel.rs:449

        }
    }
}

impl fmt::Display for RoomVisibility {
    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
        f.write_str(self.as_str())
    }
}

impl FromStr for RoomVisibility {
    type Err = anyhow::Error;

    fn from_str(value: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
        match value.trim().to_ascii_lowercase().as_str() {
            "private" => Ok(Self::Private),
            "public" => Ok(Self::Public),
            other => {
                anyhow::bail!("unsupported room visibility '{other}': expected private or public")
            }
        }
    }
}

/// Room creation options shared by channel implementations that support
/// creating group conversations.
#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default, PartialEq, Eq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct RoomCreationOptions {
    pub name: Option<String>,
    pub topic: Option<String>,
    pub invites: Vec<String>,
    pub visibility: Option<RoomVisibility>,
    pub encryption: Option<bool>,
}

impl SendMessage {
    /// Create a new message with content and recipient

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)

Solutions

Use the command the error prints: `zeroclaw config set channels.<channel_type>.<alias>.<field>=<value>` (e.g. channels.telegram.main.token=...)
Or edit ~/.zeroclaw/config.toml directly and add the `[channels.<type>.<alias>]` table
Verify with `zeroclaw channels list` that the channel now shows as configured (✅) and compiled in

Example fix

# before
$ zeroclaw channels add telegram
Error: Channel type 'telegram' — use `zeroclaw config set channels.telegram.<alias>.<field>=<value>` to configure

# after
$ zeroclaw config set channels.telegram.main.token=123456:ABC-DEF...
$ zeroclaw channels list

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Reject unimplemented subcommands before dispatching to handle_command.
fn is_implemented(cmd: &zeroclaw::ChannelCommands) -> bool {
    !matches!(cmd, zeroclaw::ChannelCommands::Add { .. })
}

Try / catch

if let Err(e) = channels::handle_command(cmd, &config).await {
    if e.to_string().contains("use `zeroclaw config set channels.") {
        // Deterministic unsupported-command bail: do not retry;
        // translate into the config-set workflow for the user.
    }
}

Prevention

Script channel provisioning with `zeroclaw config set channels.<type>.<alias>.<field>=<value>`, never `channels add`
Check `zeroclaw channels list` after config changes to confirm the channel compiled in
Do not build tooling that retries on this error — it is a permanent, by-design refusal

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking `zeroclaw channels add <channel_type> ...` from the CLI, or dispatching a ChannelCommands::Add value into channels::handle_command programmatically. Every invocation of this arm bails — there is no input that succeeds.

Common situations: Muscle memory from other tools that have `add`/`remove` channel subcommands (docker, slackctl); following an out-of-date tutorial or README that predates the config-set workflow.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e38073d7df46d923. Report an issue: GitHub.