apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Keyspace '${ks}' does not exist

Error message

Keyspace '${ks}' does not exist

What it means

ClientState.setKeyspace(ks) validates the requested keyspace against the schema (for authenticated users) and throws InvalidRequestException if Schema has no metadata for that name. This prevents sessions from binding to nonexistent keyspaces so subsequent statements fail fast with a clear message.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/ClientState.java:402

    public String getRawKeyspace()
    {
        return keyspace;
    }

    public String getKeyspace() throws InvalidRequestException
    {
        if (keyspace == null)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("No keyspace has been specified. USE a keyspace, or explicitly specify keyspace.tablename");
        return keyspace;
    }

    public void setKeyspace(String ks)
    {
        // Skip keyspace validation for non-authenticated users. Apparently, some client libraries
        // call set_keyspace() before calling login(), and we have to handle that.
        if (user != null && Schema.instance.getKeyspaceMetadata(ks) == null)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("Keyspace '" + ks + "' does not exist");
        keyspace = ks;
    }

    /**
     * Attempts to login the given user.
     */
    public void login(AuthenticatedUser user)
    {
        if (user.isAnonymous() || canLogin(user))
        {
            this.user = user;
            this.superuserStatus = null;
        }
        else
            throw new AuthenticationException(String.format("%s is not permitted to log in", user.getName()));
    }

    private boolean canLogin(AuthenticatedUser user)

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Correct the keyspace name (verify with `DESCRIBE keyspaces` / system_schema.keyspaces).
2. Create the keyspace first: `CREATE KEYSPACE ks WITH replication = {...}`.
3. Update the driver's session keyspace configuration to a keyspace that exists on the target cluster.
4. Handle the drop race: re-check existence and recreate before issuing USE.

Example fix

// before
session.execute("USE salesdb"); // keyspace doesn't exist
// after
session.execute("CREATE KEYSPACE IF NOT EXISTS salesdb WITH replication = {'class':'SimpleStrategy','replication_factor':3}");
session.execute("USE salesdb");

boolean exists = session.execute("SELECT keyspace_name FROM system_schema.keyspaces WHERE keyspace_name = ?", ks).iterator().hasNext();
if (!exists) throw new IllegalStateException("Keyspace " + ks + " does not exist");

try { session.execute("USE " + ks); } catch (InvalidRequestException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("does not exist")) { createKeyspaceIfMissing(ks); session.execute("USE " + ks); }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Executing `USE nonexistent_ks` or calling ClientState.setKeyspace("ks") where Schema.instance.getKeyspaceMetadata(ks) returns null — typo in keyspace name, keyspace dropped, or driver auto-configured with a wrong keyspace.

Common situations: Typo'd keyspace in a connection string (e.g. driver session keyspace); race where another client DROP KEYSPACE'd it mid-session; environment-specific config pointing at a keyspace that only exists elsewhere; running migrations against a fresh cluster.

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

• Index %s is not in the same keyspace as the queried table.
• Unknown keyspace: '" + keyspaceName + "'
• No keyspace has been specified. USE a keyspace, or explicitl
• You have not set a keyspace for this session
• Invalid null value of timestamp

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48dc0522d7ea99ef. Report an issue: GitHub.