apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

COMPACT STORAGE with non-composite PRIMARY KEY require one c

Error message

COMPACT STORAGE with non-composite PRIMARY KEY require one column not part of the PRIMARY KEY, none given

What it means

Cassandra throws this when a table is declared WITH COMPACT STORAGE and has a non-composite (single-column, non-CLUSTERING) PRIMARY KEY, but no non-key columns were defined. Compact tables map rows directly to thrift-era storage, so at least one value column outside the PRIMARY KEY must exist. It is thrown during table validation in CreateTableStatement.validateCompactTable.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/schema/CreateTableStatement.java:458

        if (clusteringColumnProperties.isEmpty())
        {
            // It's a thrift "static CF" so there should be some columns definition
            if (columns.isEmpty())
                throw ire("No definition found that is not part of the PRIMARY KEY");
        }

        if (isDense)
        {
            // We can have no columns (only the PK), but we can't have more than one.
            if (columns.size() > 1)
                throw ire(String.format("COMPACT STORAGE with composite PRIMARY KEY allows no more than one column not part of the PRIMARY KEY (got: %s)", StringUtils.join(columns.keySet(), ", ")));
        }
        else
        {
            // we are in the "static" case, so we need at least one column defined. For non-compact however, having
            // just the PK is fine.
            if (columns.isEmpty())
                throw ire("COMPACT STORAGE with non-composite PRIMARY KEY require one column not part of the PRIMARY KEY, none given");
        }
    }

    private void fixupCompactTable(List<ColumnProperties> clusteringTypes,
                                   Map<ColumnIdentifier, ColumnProperties> columns,
                                   boolean hasCounters,
                                   TableMetadata.Builder builder)
    {
        Set<TableMetadata.Flag> flags = EnumSet.noneOf(TableMetadata.Flag.class);
        boolean isDense = !clusteringTypes.isEmpty();
        boolean isCompound = clusteringTypes.size() > 1;

        if (isDense)
            flags.add(TableMetadata.Flag.DENSE);
        if (isCompound)
            flags.add(TableMetadata.Flag.COMPOUND);
        if (hasCounters)
            flags.add(TableMetadata.Flag.COUNTER);

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

Add at least one regular (non-PARTITION-KEY, non-CLUSTERING) column to the table definition, e.g. value text
Remove WITH COMPACT STORAGE if thrift compatibility is not required
Use a composite PRIMARY KEY (partition key plus clustering column(s)) if a key-only compact table is truly needed

Example fix

// before
CREATE TABLE t (k int PRIMARY KEY) WITH COMPACT STORAGE;
// after
CREATE TABLE t (k int PRIMARY KEY, v text) WITH COMPACT STORAGE;

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Validate DDL before executing
const compactNonComposite = /WITH\s+COMPACT\s+STORAGE/i.test(ddl) && !/CLUSTERING/i.test(ddl);
const colCount = ddl.match(/\(([^)]*)\)/)[1].split(',').length;
if (compactNonComposite && colCount <= 1) throw new Error('Compact table needs a non-PK column');

Try / catch

try { session.execute(ddl); } catch (e) { if (/COMPACT STORAGE/.test(e.message)) { /* add a non-key column or drop COMPACT STORAGE */ } else throw e; }

Prevention

Never define compact tables with only key columns
Prefer dropping WITH COMPACT STORAGE for new schemas
Add schema review checks for thrift-compat DDL

When it happens

Trigger: Running CREATE TABLE ... WITH COMPACT STORAGE where the PRIMARY KEY is a single partition key (non-composite) and the column list contains only the key column(s), e.g. CREATE TABLE t (k int PRIMARY KEY) WITH COMPACT STORAGE.

Common situations: Migrating thrift column families to CQL; typos or omissions leaving only the key column declared; testing minimal schema examples with COMPACT STORAGE.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2fa24fa99951295c. Report an issue: GitHub.