SonarSource/sonarqube · error · IllegalArgumentException

Metrics %s are not found

Error message

Metrics %s are not found

What it means

SearchHistoryAction.searchMetrics validates that all up-to-date requested metrics exist before computing measure history, throwing IllegalArgumentException with the unfound metric keys. Unlike the component endpoints this surfaces as a 400 (bad request) rather than 404, but the cause is identical: requested metric keys absent from the metrics table.

Source

Thrown at server/sonar-webserver-webapi/src/main/java/org/sonar/server/measure/ws/SearchHistoryAction.java:268

    SnapshotQuery dbQuery = new SnapshotQuery()
      .setRootComponentUuid(component.branchUuid())
      .setStatus(STATUS_PROCESSED)
      .setSort(SORT_FIELD.BY_DATE, SORT_ORDER.ASC);
    ofNullable(request.getFrom()).ifPresent(from -> dbQuery.setCreatedAfter(parseStartingDateOrDateTime(from).getTime()));
    ofNullable(request.getTo()).ifPresent(to -> dbQuery.setCreatedBefore(parseEndingDateOrDateTime(to).getTime() + 1_000L));

    return dbClient.snapshotDao().selectAnalysesByQuery(dbSession, dbQuery);
  }

  private List<MetricDto> searchMetrics(DbSession dbSession, SearchHistoryRequest request) {
    List<String> upToDateRequestedMetrics = RemovedMetricConverter.withRemovedMetricAlias(request.getMetrics());
    List<MetricDto> metrics = dbClient.metricDao().selectByKeys(dbSession, upToDateRequestedMetrics);
    if (upToDateRequestedMetrics.size() > metrics.size()) {
      Set<String> requestedMetrics = new HashSet<>(upToDateRequestedMetrics);
      Set<String> foundMetrics = metrics.stream().map(MetricDto::getKey).collect(Collectors.toSet());

      Set<String> unfoundMetrics = Sets.difference(requestedMetrics, foundMetrics).immutableCopy();
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(format("Metrics %s are not found", String.join(", ", unfoundMetrics)));
    }

    return metrics;
  }

  private ComponentDto loadComponent(DbSession dbSession, SearchHistoryRequest request) {
    String componentKey = request.getComponent();
    String branch = request.getBranch();
    String pullRequest = request.getPullRequest();
    return componentFinder.getByKeyAndOptionalBranchOrPullRequest(dbSession, componentKey, branch, pullRequest);
  }

  static class SearchHistoryRequest {
    private final String component;
    private final String branch;
    private final String pullRequest;
    private final List<String> metrics;
    private final String from;

View on GitHub (pinned to 184c821202)

Solutions

  1. Fix or drop the metric keys listed in the 'Metrics ... are not found' message.
  2. List valid metrics via api/metrics/search and retry with confirmed keys.
  3. Restore the plugin defining custom metrics before querying their history.
  4. Wrap the call defensively in scripts and validate keys against the metrics list.

Example fix

// before
GET api/measures/search_history?component=my-app&metrics=ncol
// after
GET api/measures/search_history?component=my-app&metrics=ncloc
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const known = new Set((await api.get('/api/metrics/search', {ps: 500})).metrics.map(m => m.key));
const missing = keys.filter(k => !known.has(k));
if (missing.length) throw new Error('Metrics not found: ' + missing.join(', '));

Try / catch

try { ... } catch (e) { if (String(e.message).includes('are not found')) { const missing = e.message.match(/Metrics (.*) are not found/)[1].split(', '); ... } throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Calling api/measures/search_history with a metrics parameter containing one or more keys that selectByKeys does not resolve in the database.

Common situations: History dashboards referencing renamed/deleted metrics after upgrades; misspelled keys in CI scripts; custom metrics from a plugin that was removed so historical queries fail.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d66d3f6e7563775e. Report an issue: GitHub.