TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The first argument must be of type string

Issue

The following error(s) are being seen in the Contrast Node agent logs when trying to instrument your application:

{
  "level": 50,
  "time": 1707264286900,
  "pid": 57437,
  "hostname": "LTAN-C02DL1KHMD6R",
  "name": "contrast",
  "err": {
  "type": "TypeError",
  "message": "The first argument must be of type string or an instance of Buffer, ArrayBuffer, or Array or an Array-like Object. Received undefined",
  "stack": "TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The first argument must be of type string or an instance of Buffer, ArrayBuffer, or Array or an Array-like Object. Received undefined\n at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:399:5)\n at Function.from (nod\e:buffer:339:9)\n ..., 
  "code": "ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE"
},
  "msg": "A fatal agent installation error has occurred. The application will be run without instrumentation."
}

Cause

This could happen if your Node app spawns off many child processes or the application has a nested package.json, and the Node agent cannot find an application.name. This property defaults to the name key in the package.json. 

Resolution

This error can be resolved by setting a value for application.name in the agent configuration yaml or as an environment variable.

Yaml example:

application:
  name: MyAppName

Env var example:

CONTRAST__APPLICATION__NAME=MyAppName