Improved error handling for attempting to send too large message payl… by mattieruth · Pull Request #168 · pipecat-ai/pipecat-client-web

mattieruth · 2026-01-14T20:58:11Z

…oads

Also improved error logging when onError handler is not registered.

This PR goes along with this transport PR

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR improves error handling for oversized message payloads and enhances error logging when no onError callback is registered. It introduces a new MessageTooLargeError exception class and validates message sizes before sending them through the transport layer.

Changes:

Added MessageTooLargeError class for handling oversized messages
Introduced message size validation with a 64 KB default limit
Wrapped transport sendMessage calls with error handling and size validation
Improved error logging to distinguish between missing callbacks and actual emit errors

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

File	Description
client-js/rtvi/errors.ts	Added MessageTooLargeError class for handling oversized message payloads
client-js/client/utils.ts	Added messageSizeWithinLimit utility function to validate message sizes
client-js/client/transport.ts	Added _maxMessageSize field (64 KB) and maxMessageSize getter
client-js/client/client.ts	Introduced _sendMessage wrapper with validation, updated all sendMessage calls, improved error logging

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (2)

client-js/client/client.ts:681

The appendToContext method is declared as async and awaits the _sendMessage call, but _sendMessage is a synchronous void method. This creates an inconsistency where the await has no effect. Either _sendMessage should return a Promise, or this method should not be async and should not await the call.

    await this._sendMessage(
      new RTVIMessage(RTVIMessageType.APPEND_TO_CONTEXT, {
        role: context.role,
        content: context.content,
        run_immediately: context.run_immediately,
      } as LLMContextMessage)
    );

client-js/client/client.ts:692

The sendText method is declared as async and awaits the _sendMessage call, but _sendMessage is a synchronous void method. This creates an inconsistency where the await has no effect. Either _sendMessage should return a Promise, or this method should not be async and should not await the call.

    await this._sendMessage(
      new RTVIMessage(RTVIMessageType.SEND_TEXT, {
        content,
        options,
      })
    );

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Copilot · 2026-01-14T21:01:35Z

client-js/client/client.ts

+  private _sendMessage(message: RTVIMessage): void {
+    if (!messageSizeWithinLimit(message, this._transport.maxMessageSize)) {
+      const msg =
+        "Message data too large. Max size is " + this._transport.maxMessageSize;
+      this._options.callbacks?.onError?.(RTVIMessage.error(msg, false));
+      throw new RTVIErrors.MessageTooLargeError(msg);
+    }
+
+    try {
+      this._transport.sendMessage(message);
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (error instanceof Error) {
+        this._options.callbacks?.onError?.(
+          RTVIMessage.error(error.message, false)
+        );
+      } else {
+        this._options.callbacks?.onError?.(
+          RTVIMessage.error("Unknown error sending message", false)
+        );
+      }
+      throw error;
+    }
+  }


The new messageSizeWithinLimit function and the _sendMessage wrapper that validates message size lack test coverage. Since the repository has existing tests for client functionality, tests should be added to cover message size validation, including cases for messages that exceed the limit and messages within the limit.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-01-14T21:01:36Z

client-js/client/utils.ts

+export function messageSizeWithinLimit(
+  message: unknown,
+  maxSize: number
+): boolean {
+  const getSizeInBytes = (obj: unknown) => {
+    const jsonString = JSON.stringify(obj);
+    const encoder = new TextEncoder();
+    const bytes = encoder.encode(jsonString);
+    return bytes.length;
+  };
+  const size = getSizeInBytes(message);
+  return size <= maxSize;
+}


The messageSizeWithinLimit utility function lacks test coverage. Since the repository has existing tests, tests should be added to verify that the size calculation is accurate for various message types and edge cases, such as messages with Unicode characters or nested objects.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

client-js/client/transport.ts

client-js/client/client.ts

…oads Also improved error logging when onError handler is not registered.

Copilot · 2026-01-14T21:13:04Z

@mattieruth I've opened a new pull request, #169, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-01-14T21:14:23Z

@mattieruth I've opened a new pull request, #170, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

codepilot improved comments Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Co-authored-by: mattieruth <[email protected]>

Add test coverage for messageSizeWithinLimit utility function

filipi87 · 2026-01-15T13:17:18Z

client-js/client/transport.ts

+   * typical WebSocket, proxy, and intermediary limits and to discourage
+   * transports from sending very large payloads in a single message.
+   *
+   * Transport implementations may override this value in subclasses or


Makes sense.

Are we going to override the DailyTransport to allow sending 10 MB ? Or do you think about keeping this limitation for all the transports for now.

Because I guess if we introduce this without keeping the previous limits, it could cause issues for people who send large messages using Daily.

yes! See pipecat-ai/pipecat-client-web-transports#84

filipi87

LGTM. 🚀

I think we just need to align the releases and also release the Daily transport with an increased message limit, so we don’t risk causing issues for users who send large messages using Daily.

mattieruth requested review from Copilot and filipi87 January 14, 2026 20:58

mattieruth mentioned this pull request Jan 14, 2026

Set maxMessageSize on transports and... pipecat-ai/pipecat-client-web-transports#84

Merged

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of mattieruth January 14, 2026 20:58 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Jan 14, 2026

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Improved error handling for attempting to send too large message payl…

af172dc

…oads Also improved error logging when onError handler is not registered.

mattieruth force-pushed the message-too-large-handling branch from 82f125e to af172dc Compare January 14, 2026 21:04

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 14, 2026

Add test coverage for message size validation #169

Merged

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Jan 14, 2026

Add test coverage for messageSizeWithinLimit utility function #170

Merged

mattieruth and others added 2 commits January 14, 2026 16:14

Apply suggestions from code review

950ae90

codepilot improved comments Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>

Add comprehensive test coverage for message size validation

70bd9a5

Co-authored-by: mattieruth <[email protected]>

mattieruth force-pushed the message-too-large-handling branch from b3a74cf to 70bd9a5 Compare January 14, 2026 22:11

mattieruth and others added 3 commits January 14, 2026 17:21

test cleanup

52e9d21

Add comprehensive tests for messageSizeWithinLimit utility function

f618283

Co-authored-by: mattieruth <[email protected]>

Merge pull request #170 from pipecat-ai/copilot/sub-pr-168-again

34888a0

Add test coverage for messageSizeWithinLimit utility function

filipi87 reviewed Jan 15, 2026

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filipi87 approved these changes Jan 15, 2026

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mattieruth merged commit 15a1f31 into main Jan 15, 2026
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