SigNoz/signoz · error

invalid operator: %s

Error message

invalid operator: %s

What it means

Thrown by AggregateOperator.Validate() in pkg/query-service/model/v3/v3.go when the aggregate operator string is not one of the recognized constants (sum, avg, min, max, p05/p10/.../p99 percentiles, rate_sum, rate_avg, rate_min, rate_max, hist_quant50/75/90/95/99, etc.). It is a plain enum validation: the API received an operator value it cannot map to a ClickHouse aggregation.

Source

Thrown at pkg/query-service/model/v3/v3.go:109

		AggregateOperatorP95,
		AggregateOperatorP99,
		AggregateOperatorRate,
		AggregateOperatorSumRate,
		AggregateOperatorAvgRate,
		AggregateOperatorMinRate,
		AggregateOperatorMaxRate,
		AggregateOperatorRateSum,
		AggregateOperatorRateAvg,
		AggregateOperatorRateMin,
		AggregateOperatorRateMax,
		AggregateOperatorHistQuant50,
		AggregateOperatorHistQuant75,
		AggregateOperatorHistQuant90,
		AggregateOperatorHistQuant95,
		AggregateOperatorHistQuant99:
		return nil
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid operator: %s", a)
	}
}

// RequireAttribute returns true if the aggregate operator requires an attribute
// to be specified.
func (a AggregateOperator) RequireAttribute(dataSource DataSource) bool {
	switch dataSource {
	case DataSourceMetrics:
		switch a {
		case AggregateOperatorNoOp,
			AggregateOperatorCount:
			return false
		default:
			return true
		}
	case DataSourceLogs:
		switch a {
		case AggregateOperatorNoOp,

View on GitHub (pinned to 5069bf80b0)

Solutions

1. Check the AggregateOperator constants in pkg/query-service/model/v3/v3.go for the exact accepted spellings and use one of them (lowercase, e.g. "avg", "p95", "hist_quant99")
2. Ensure JSON payloads use the exact enum string values; Go unmarshals case-sensitively for string-typed constants
3. If the value comes from user input, validate it client-side against the operator list before sending the request
4. If you need an operator you believe exists, upgrade the query-service to a version that supports it

Example fix

// before
req := &v3.AggregateAttributeRequest{
    AggregateOperator: v3.AggregateOperator("P95"),
}

// after
req := &v3.AggregateAttributeRequest{
    AggregateOperator: v3.AggregateOperatorP95,
}

validOps := map[v3.AggregateOperator]bool{v3.AggregateOperatorAvg:true,v3.AggregateOperatorSum:true,v3.AggregateOperatorMin:true,v3.AggregateOperatorMax:true,v3.AggregateOperatorP95:true} // extend as needed
if !validOps[req.AggregateOperator] { return fmt.Errorf("unsupported operator %q", req.AggregateOperator) }

func isValidAggregateOperator(op v3.AggregateOperator) bool { return op != "" && op == v3.AggregateOperator(strings.ToLower(string(op))) && knownOps[op] }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a v3 query API (e.g. POST /api/v3/query_range or autocomplete/aggregate-attribute endpoints) with QueryData.AggregateAttributeRequest.AggregateOperator set to a typo'd or unsupported value like "Sum", "count_distinct", "p50", or an empty string when the data source is not metrics.

Common situations: Frontend/CLI sending capitalized operator names, version skew where a newer client emits an operator this server build doesn't know yet, hand-crafted JSON payloads, or copy-pasting operator names from a different metrics DSL (PromQL function names like 'quantile' used as operator).

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 reduce to operator: %s
• invalid query type: %s
• invalid panel type: %s
• invalid tag type: %s
• invalid tag data type: %s

AI-assisted analysis of SigNoz/signoz@5069bf80b0 (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a68f6a0cd0406e2c. Report an issue: GitHub.