How to get around "the rule matches the empty string"?

[ethindp]

I'm writing an Ada compiler and there are a few rules that match the empty string. What's a good workaround for this, given tree-sitter doesn't support it unless it's the start rule? (I could just directly inline the rule, but that doesn't seem like the most efficient solution.)

[ahlinc]

Could you specify what do you mean by the empty string? An empty string literal like ""?

[ethindp]

@ahlinc No, the Ada grammar has rules like declarative_part which consists of zero or more declarative_items. So tree-sitter is complaining because that rule (declarative_part: $ => repeat($.declarative_item)) matches nothing (the empty string) as input.

[amaanq]

why not just make it repeat1 and wherever it's used in another rule, marked as optional?

[ahlinc]

That's why I asked my previous question to get a clarity that it doesn't related to terminals.