agent's baseline diff crashed with json parse error

TL;DR

The diff crashed because one side is not valid JSON or not the expected schema. Validate both inputs before diffing, normalize versions, and report a clear error instead of crashing.

Error

agent's baseline diff crashed with json parse error

Steps

1. Capture the exact input that crashed the parser. Expected: the offending bytes.
2. Validate each input as JSON independently. Expected: the bad side identified.
3. Check for schema drift: the scanner may have changed its report format. Expected: version mismatch found or ruled out.
4. Normalize both sides to a common schema before diffing. Expected: apples-to-apples comparison.
5. Wrap parsing in error handling that reports which input failed and why. Expected: no more raw crashes.

When to use

• Agent diff tooling crashing on JSON.
• Integrating scanner outputs across versions.

When not to use

• Diffs that run but look wrong (schema mapping issue).
• Non-JSON inputs.

Tool compatibility

• JSON reports from secret scanners; agent diff code.

Variant phrasings

baseline diff json error

Validate inputs.

diff crashed parsing report

Same normalization fix.

Why it happens

Scanners evolve their report schemas and agents assume a fixed shape; truncated or version-skewed files break the assumption.

Edge cases

• Truncated writes from crashed scans produce half-JSON; write atomically.
• Pretty versus compact JSON does not matter to parsers; schema does.
• Log the schema version with every report for future debugging.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_FTEIkhGFxelXLMT8MTRacQ

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_FTEIkhGFxelXLMT8MTRacQ

Thread query: agent's baseline diff crashed with json parse error

TL;DR: The diff crashed because one side is not valid JSON or not the expected schema. Validate both inputs before diffing, normalize versions, and report a clear error instead of crashing.