apache/beam · error · RuntimeException

Unable to derive type for ValueProvider: <type>

Error message

Unable to derive type for ValueProvider: <type>

What it means

When Jackson resolves a custom ValueProvider deserializer via createContextual, it requires the target JavaType to be a parameterized ValueProvider<T> so the inner T can be extracted. This error means the contextual type had no (or more than one) type parameter for ValueProvider.class, i.e. the target was a raw ValueProvider or an unexpected parameterization. It is thrown early during pipeline option deserialization rather than producing an untyped deserializer.

Source

Thrown at sdks/java/core/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/options/ValueProvider.java:352

    private final JavaType innerType;

    // A 0-arg constructor is required by the compiler.
    Deserializer() {
      this.innerType = null;
    }

    Deserializer(JavaType innerType) {
      this.innerType = innerType;
    }

    @Override
    public JsonDeserializer<?> createContextual(DeserializationContext ctxt, BeanProperty property)
        throws JsonMappingException {
      checkArgumentNotNull(ctxt, "Null DeserializationContext.");
      JavaType type = checkStateNotNull(ctxt.getContextualType(), "Invalid type: %s", getClass());
      JavaType[] params = type.findTypeParameters(ValueProvider.class);
      if (params.length != 1) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Unable to derive type for ValueProvider: " + type.toString());
      }
      JavaType param = params[0];
      return new Deserializer(param);
    }

    @Override
    public ValueProvider<?> deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt)
        throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
      JsonDeserializer dser =
          ctxt.findRootValueDeserializer(
              checkStateNotNull(
                  innerType, "Invalid %s: innerType is null. Serialization error?", getClass()));
      Object o = dser.deserialize(jp, ctxt);
      return StaticValueProvider.of(o);
    }
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 12126d8942)

Solutions

1. Declare the field with an explicit type parameter: ValueProvider<String> not raw ValueProvider.
2. If constructing the JavaType programmatically, pass a ParameterizedType (TypeFactory.constructParametricType(ValueProvider.class, innerType)) instead of the raw class.
3. Check any custom Jackson serializers/deserializers or ObjectMapper config on PipelineOptionsFactory.MAPPER that may strip generic type info.
4. As a last resort inspect the exact type printed in the message and fix its declaration at that site.

Example fix

// before
public ValueProvider getInput() { return null; }

// after
public ValueProvider<String> getInput() { return null; }

java.lang.reflect.Field f = options.getClass().getField("input");
if (f.getGenericType() instanceof Class) throw new IllegalStateException("ValueProvider field must be parameterized");

static boolean isParameterizedValueProvider(JavaType t) {
  return t != null && t.findTypeParameters(ValueProvider.class).length == 1;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Jackson deserializes a field/property declared as ValueProvider<T> (e.g. in PipelineOptions) but ctxt.getContextualType() returns a type whose findTypeParameters(ValueProvider.class) does not yield exactly one parameter — typically a raw ValueProvider used without a generic parameter, or a generic ValueProvider whose type variable is unresolved.

Common situations: Declaring a PipelineOptions field as bare ValueProvider instead of ValueProvider<String>; passing a raw ValueProvider.class to generic type resolution; reflective/programmatic option construction that loses generic type info; building pipelines via template/runtime value providers without concrete type parameters.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid response format", "malformed payload", "missing data field": when an API returns 200 but the response shape is wrong — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed to read PipelineOptions from Protocol
• Failed to serialize and deserialize property '%s' with value
• Failed to convert PipelineOptions to Protocol
• Failed to parse a %s from JSON value: %s
• AWS credential provider type '%s' is not supported

AI-assisted analysis of apache/beam@12126d8942 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9f78b9f9f51ebadd. Report an issue: GitHub.