SigNoz/signoz · error

invalid attribute type: %s

Error message

invalid attribute type: %s

What it means

AttributeKey.Validate() checks Type only when IsColumn is true, and fails unless it is "resource" (AttributeKeyTypeResource), "tag" (AttributeKeyTypeTag), "unspecified", or "scope" (AttributeKeyTypeInstrumentationScope). Column-typed keys must declare which attribute namespace they come from so the query builder can resolve the ClickHouse column.

Source

Thrown at pkg/query-service/model/v3/v3.go:411

func (a AttributeKey) CacheKey() string {
	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s-%t", a.Key, a.DataType, a.Type, a.IsColumn)
}

func (a AttributeKey) Validate() error {
	switch a.DataType {
	case AttributeKeyDataTypeBool, AttributeKeyDataTypeInt64, AttributeKeyDataTypeFloat64, AttributeKeyDataTypeString, AttributeKeyDataTypeArrayFloat64, AttributeKeyDataTypeArrayString, AttributeKeyDataTypeArrayInt64, AttributeKeyDataTypeArrayBool, AttributeKeyDataTypeUnspecified:
		break
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid attribute dataType: %s", a.DataType)
	}

	if a.IsColumn {
		switch a.Type {
		case AttributeKeyTypeResource, AttributeKeyTypeTag, AttributeKeyTypeUnspecified, AttributeKeyTypeInstrumentationScope:
			break
		default:
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid attribute type: %s", a.Type)
		}
	}

	if a.Key == "" {
		return fmt.Errorf("key is empty")
	}

	return nil
}

type FilterAttributeValueResponse struct {
	StringAttributeValues []string                      `json:"stringAttributeValues"`
	NumberAttributeValues []interface{}                 `json:"numberAttributeValues"`
	BoolAttributeValues   []bool                        `json:"boolAttributeValues"`
	RelatedValues         *FilterAttributeValueResponse `json:"relatedValues,omitempty"`
}

type QueryRangeParamsV3 struct {

View on GitHub (pinned to 5069bf80b0)

Solutions

1. When isColumn is true, set type to "tag", "resource", "scope", or "unspecified"
2. Prefer using server-returned AttributeKey objects (from autocomplete APIs) verbatim in filters so type/isColumn stay consistent
3. If you don't need column semantics, set isColumn:false and omit type

Example fix

// before
{"key":"service.name","dataType":"string","isColumn":true,"type":""}

// after
{"key":"service.name","dataType":"string","isColumn":true,"type":"resource"}

if key.IsColumn { switch key.Type { case v3.AttributeKeyTypeResource, v3.AttributeKeyTypeTag, v3.AttributeKeyTypeUnspecified, v3.AttributeKeyTypeInstrumentationScope: default: return fmt.Errorf("bad key type %q", key.Type) } }

func columnKeyHasValidType(k v3.AttributeKey) bool { return !k.IsColumn || k.Type == v3.AttributeKeyTypeResource || k.Type == v3.AttributeKeyTypeTag || k.Type == v3.AttributeKeyTypeUnspecified || k.Type == v3.AttributeKeyTypeInstrumentationScope }

When it happens

Trigger: Sending a builder query where a filter/group-by key has isColumn:true and type set to "span", "metric", "", or another invalid value. Keys with isColumn:false skip this check entirely.

Common situations: Marking user-selected attributes as columns while leaving type empty, mixing up TagType values with AttributeKeyType, or older payloads predating instrumentation-scope support.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• invalid operator: %s
• invalid reduce to operator: %s
• invalid query type: %s
• invalid attribute dataType: %s
• key is empty

AI-assisted analysis of SigNoz/signoz@5069bf80b0 (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3ff756b69dd47c21. Report an issue: GitHub.