`Provided ruleset is not an object` error after upgrading from 1.37.12 to 1.37.13

[mriedem]

We're seeing this error when trying to upgrade to the latest package:

iqp-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] There was a problem with spectral.
iqp-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] Provided ruleset is not an object
iqp-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] Additional error details:
iqp-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] RulesetValidationError: Provided ruleset is not an object
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at assertValidRuleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/validation/assertions.js:12:15)
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at new Ruleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/ruleset.js:35:44)
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at Spectral.setRuleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/spectral.js:66:73)
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at setup (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:160:12)
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at async runSpectral (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:34:20)
iqp-service:openapi:validation:     at async runValidator (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/cli-validator/run-validator.js:234:17) {
iqp-service:openapi:validation:   code: 'invalid-ruleset-definition',
iqp-service:openapi:validation:   path: []
iqp-service:openapi:validation: }
device-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] There was a problem with spectral.
device-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] Provided ruleset is not an object
device-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] Additional error details:
device-service:openapi:validation: [ERROR] RulesetValidationError: Provided ruleset is not an object
device-service:openapi:validation:     at assertValidRuleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/validation/assertions.js:12:15)
device-service:openapi:validation:     at new Ruleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/ruleset.js:35:44)
device-service:openapi:validation:     at Spectral.setRuleset (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/spectral.js:66:73)
device-service:openapi:validation:     at setup (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:160:12)
device-service:openapi:validation:     at async runSpectral (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:34:20)
device-service:openapi:validation:     at async runValidator (/workspace/app/device-management/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/cli-validator/run-validator.js:234:17) {
device-service:openapi:validation:   code: 'invalid-ruleset-definition',
device-service:openapi:validation:   path: []
device-service:openapi:validation: }

We run the tool like this:

lint-openapi -s --impact-score -r .spectral.yml -w 370 src/modules/openapi/openapi-spec.json

Here is the .spectral.yml in this case:

extends: '@ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset'
rules:
  ibm-enum-casing-convention: warn
  ibm-required-array-properties-in-response: warn

  # GET /workloads returns a usage status, this is not returned for sessions or legacy jobs (old pricing model)
  # added as a warning to unblock us for now but we should try to resolve this
  ibm-required-enum-properties-in-response: warn

[diatrcz]

Hello! The newest version of the validator (1.37.14) should fix this issue. Can you please check it on your end, if you have the time?

[mriedem]

Hello! The newest version of the validator (1.37.14) should fix this issue. Can you please check it on your end, if you have the time?

We're still experiencing this with the latest version too. Is there something I can send to help recreate?

[pyrooka]

Hey @mriedem! We discussed this issue in the team but unfortunately none of us can reproduce the issue so I'm not sure what else we could try, to be honest. I've just finished running some tests in a container to ensure that the environment is clean from other packages and other custom changes. What I did is:

1. Started a new container with Node pre-installed and mounted the local dir with a test API and your config: podman run -it -v "$(pwd):/app" --rm node:trixie-slim bash
2. Installed the validator with npm install -g ibm-openapi-validator
3. To use custom rulesets, the ruleset package must be installed too: npm install @ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset
4. Used the exact same command to start the tool: lint-openapi -s --impact-score -r .spectral.yml -w 370 global-params.yaml

I saw no error, the validate completed successfully. Could you try going over these steps too? Is it possible that you have some conflicing versions installed locally, especially of the spectral package? Asking because the error message comes from the spectral package when the validator tries to load it. So technically the error is not originated from the validator.

So, using a clean environment would help us to find out whether the issue is really in this project or it's in the spectral... or something else.

[kemsky]

The same problem on ubuntu 26.04 and NVM.

# rules: .spectral.js
npx -p @ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset -p ibm-openapi-validator lint-openapi --errors-only affiliate_api_v1.0.json

[ERROR] There was a problem with spectral.
[ERROR] Provided ruleset is not an object
[ERROR] Additional error details:
[ERROR] RulesetValidationError: Provided ruleset is not an object
    at assertValidRuleset (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/validation/assertions.js:12:15)
    at new Ruleset (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/ruleset/ruleset.js:35:44)
    at Spectral.setRuleset (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/node_modules/@stoplight/spectral-core/dist/spectral.js:66:73)
    at setup (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:160:12)
    at async runSpectral (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/spectral/index.js:34:20)
    at async runValidator (/home/dookie/.npm/_npx/16bfb31956aef7e0/node_modules/ibm-openapi-validator/src/cli-validator/run-validator.js:234:17) {
  code: 'invalid-ruleset-definition',
  path: []
}

const ibm = require('@ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset');

module.exports = {
  extends: ibm,
  rules: {
    'ibm-parameter-casing-convention': 'info',
    'ibm-property-casing-convention': 'info',
    'ibm-path-segment-casing-convention': 'info',
    'ibm-securityscheme-attributes': 'info',
    'ibm-enum-casing-convention': 'info',
    'ibm-required-enum-properties-in-response': 'info',
  },
};

node - v24.16.0

Root cause: ibm-openapi-validator already bundles @ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset as its own dependency. Specifying it as a separate -p package caused npm to install @ibm-cloud/openapi-ruleset at the top level with a newer @stoplight/spectral-core@1.22.0,
while ibm-openapi-validator internally uses 1.21.0. The version mismatch made the instanceof Ruleset check fail when loading .spectral.js, producing the "Provided ruleset is not an object" error.