VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics · error

cannot get API config: %w

Error message

cannot get API config: %w

What it means

GetLabels is the entry point for DigitalOcean service discovery. This error wraps any failure returned while obtaining (or constructing and caching) the apiConfig — i.e. any of the auth-parse, proxy-auth-parse, or client-creation errors above — so it fires at config-usage time, not request time.

Source

Thrown at lib/promscrape/discovery/digitalocean/digitalocean.go:37

	"This works only if digitalocean_sd_configs is configured in '-promscrape.config' file. "+
	"See https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/sd_configs/#digitalocean_sd_configs for details")

// SDConfig represents service discovery config for digital ocean.
//
// See https://prometheus.io/docs/prometheus/latest/configuration/configuration/#digitalocean_sd_config
type SDConfig struct {
	Server            string                     `yaml:"server,omitempty"`
	HTTPClientConfig  promauth.HTTPClientConfig  `yaml:",inline"`
	ProxyURL          *proxy.URL                 `yaml:"proxy_url,omitempty"`
	ProxyClientConfig promauth.ProxyClientConfig `yaml:",inline"`
	Port              int                        `yaml:"port,omitempty"`
}

// GetLabels returns Digital Ocean droplet labels according to sdc.
func (sdc *SDConfig) GetLabels(baseDir string) ([]*promutil.Labels, error) {
	cfg, err := getAPIConfig(sdc, baseDir)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot get API config: %w", err)
	}
	droplets, err := getDroplets(cfg.client.GetAPIResponse)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return addDropletLabels(droplets, cfg.port), nil
}

// https://developers.digitalocean.com/documentation/v2/#retrieve-an-existing-droplet-by-id
type droplet struct {
	ID     int    `json:"id"`
	Name   string `json:"name"`
	Status string `json:"status"`

	Features []string      `json:"features"`
	Image    dropletImage  `json:"image"`
	SizeSlug string        `json:"size_slug"`
	Networks networks      `json:"networks"`

View on GitHub (pinned to 5079fb58f1)

Solutions

1. Look at the wrapped cause after 'cannot get API config:' — it will name the real failing step
2. Validate the entire digitalocean_sd_config block (auth, proxy, server fields)
3. Ensure all referenced files (tokens, certs, CA) exist and are readable by vmagent
4. Reload vmagent config only after running config validation
5. Temporarily use defaults (no http_client_config) to isolate which subsection is broken

Example fix

# before
- digitalocean_sd_configs:
    - port: 80
      http_client_config:
        authorization:
          credentials_file: /etc/do/missing.txt

# after
- digitalocean_sd_configs:
    - port: 80
      http_client_config:
        authorization:
          credentials: <base64 of token or use credentials_file with an existing file>

# Validate the whole digitalocean_sd_config before reload:
# - http_client_config auth files exist and readable
# - proxy files exist
# - server is a valid URL
for f in /etc/do/token.txt /etc/do/ca.pem; do test -r "$f" || { echo "missing $f"; exit 1; }; done
# then run vmagent config validation

labels, err := sdc.GetLabels(baseDir)
if err != nil {
    var cfgErr = strings.Contains(err.Error(), "cannot get API config")
    if cfgErr {
        // surface the wrapped cause (auth/proxy/client) to config tooling; fix and re-validate
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: digitalocean_sd_config with broken http_client_config, proxy_client_config, or api_server such that newAPIConfig fails; the config map re-creates the client after a config reload and hits the same failure.

Common situations: First scrape after adding a digitalocean_sd_config with a typo; credentials file deleted after initial config load; certificate rotation breaking TLS config; indentation errors after editing prometheus.yml.

Related errors

• missing `subscription_id` config option
• cannot parse proxy auth config: %w
• cannot read configs for `environment: %q`: %w
• unsupported `authentication_method: %q` only `OAuth` and `Ma
• cannot get API config: %w

AI-assisted analysis of VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics@5079fb58f1 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ab476cdd42ee0a96. Report an issue: GitHub.