apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Cannot provide custom timestamp for a BATCH containing count

Error message

Cannot provide custom timestamp for a BATCH containing counters

What it means

A batch-level USING TIMESTAMP cannot be combined with any counter statements in the batch, since counter writes cannot carry a custom timestamp. Thrown by BatchStatement.validate() when timestampSet && hasCounters.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/BatchStatement.java:291

        for (ModificationStatement statement : statements)
        {
            if (timestampSet && statement.isTimestampSet())
                throw new InvalidRequestException("Timestamp must be set either on BATCH or individual statements: " + statement.source);

            if (statement.isCounter())
                hasCounters = true;
            else
                hasNonCounters = true;

            if (statement.isVirtual())
                hasVirtualTables = true;
            else
                hasRegularTables = true;
        }

        if (timestampSet && hasCounters)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot provide custom timestamp for a BATCH containing counters");

        if (isCounter() && hasNonCounters)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot include non-counter statement in a counter batch");

        if (hasCounters && hasNonCounters)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Counter and non-counter mutations cannot exist in the same batch");

        if (isLogged() && hasCounters)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot include a counter statement in a logged batch");

        if (isLogged() && hasVirtualTables)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot include a virtual table statement in a logged batch");

        if (hasVirtualTables && hasRegularTables)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Mutations for virtual and regular tables cannot exist in the same batch");

        if (hasConditions && hasVirtualTables)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Conditional BATCH statements cannot include mutations for virtual tables");

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Remove USING TIMESTAMP from the batch
2. Split the batch: counter statements in one batch, timestamped regular statements in another

Example fix

// before
BEGIN BATCH USING TIMESTAMP 1000 UPDATE ctr SET c=c+1 WHERE k='a'; INSERT INTO t ...; APPLY BATCH;
// after
BEGIN BATCH UPDATE ctr SET c=c+1 WHERE k='a'; APPLY BATCH;
BEGIN BATCH USING TIMESTAMP 1000 INSERT INTO t ...; APPLY BATCH;

boolean hasCounters = statements.stream().anyMatch(ModificationStatement::isCounter);
if (batchUsesTimestamp && hasCounters) throw new IllegalArgumentException("remove USING TIMESTAMP or split counter statements out");

try { session.execute(batch); }
catch (InvalidQueryException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("BATCH containing counters")) { /* split batch by table type */ }
}

When it happens

Trigger: BEGIN BATCH ... USING TIMESTAMP n ... mixing (or solely containing) counter UPDATE statements with any other statements, executed or prepared.

Common situations: Generic batch helpers applying a global timestamp across mixed workloads; incrementing counters together with regular writes under one timestamped batch.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot provide custom timestamp for counter BATCH
• Timestamp must be set either on BATCH or individual statemen
• Cannot include non-counter statement in a counter batch
• Invalid null value of timestamp
• Invalid timestamp value: <tval>

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a6868cf028f9764. Report an issue: GitHub.