apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Some partition key parts are missing: %s

Error message

Some partition key parts are missing: %s

What it means

For single-partition (non-range) statement types, every partition key component must be restricted with EQ or IN. When some partition key columns are unrestricted, processPartitionKeyRestrictions throws this error listing the missing components.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/restrictions/StatementRestrictions.java:571

                throw new InvalidRequestException("ANN ordering does not support any other ordering");
            Ordering annOrdering = annOrderings.get(0);
            if (annOrdering.direction != Ordering.Direction.ASC)
                throw new InvalidRequestException("Descending ANN ordering is not supported");
            SingleRestriction restriction = annOrdering.expression.toRestriction();
            return restrictionSet.addRestriction(restriction);
        }
        return restrictionSet;
    }

    private void processPartitionKeyRestrictions(ClientState state, boolean hasQueriableIndex, boolean allowFiltering, boolean forView)
    {
        if (!type.allowPartitionKeyRanges())
        {
            checkFalse(partitionKeyRestrictions.isOnToken(),
                       "The token function cannot be used in WHERE clauses for %s statements", type);

            if (partitionKeyRestrictions.hasUnrestrictedPartitionKeyComponents())
                throw invalidRequest("Some partition key parts are missing: %s",
                                     Joiner.on(", ").join(getPartitionKeyUnrestrictedComponents()));

            // slice query
            checkFalse(partitionKeyRestrictions.hasSlice(),
                    "Only EQ and IN relation are supported on the partition key (unless you use the token() function)"
                            + " for %s statements", type);
        }
        else
        {
            // If there are no partition restrictions or there's only token restriction, we have to set a key range
            if (partitionKeyRestrictions.isOnToken())
                isKeyRange = true;

            if (partitionKeyRestrictions.isEmpty() && partitionKeyRestrictions.hasUnrestrictedPartitionKeyComponents())
            {
                isKeyRange = true;
                usesSecondaryIndexing = hasQueriableIndex;
            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Restrict all partition key columns: WHERE pk1 = ... AND pk2 = ...
2. Use the token() function with ALLOW FILTERING for a range over the full partition key
3. Use a partition-key IN list supplying full tuples: WHERE (pk1, pk2) IN ((a,b),(c,d))
4. Restructure the table so the partition key matches the query access pattern

Example fix

// before
SELECT * FROM sensor_data WHERE sensor_id = 's1';  -- partition key is (sensor_id, date)
// after
SELECT * FROM sensor_data WHERE sensor_id = 's1' AND date = '2026-09-10';

// Given table metadata, assert every partition key column is present in the WHERE clause
List<String> missing = table.getPartitionKeyColumns().stream()
    .map(ColumnMetadata::getName)
    .filter(pk -> !whereColumns.contains(pk))
    .collect(Collectors.toList());
if (!missing.isEmpty()) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing partition key parts: " + missing);

When it happens

Trigger: SELECT * FROM t WHERE pk_col1 = 'a' on a composite partition key ((pk_col1, pk_col2)) without restricting pk_col2; INSERT/DELETE/SELECT on one partition key part only.

Common situations: Composite partition keys introduced after queries were written; forgetting one component of a two-column partition key; ORM-generated queries not filling all key parts.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Key may not be empty
• Key length of %d is longer than maximum of %d
• allowFilteringMessage(state)
• Cannot add new field %s of type %s to user type %s as the ty
• Cannot create secondary index on the only partition key colu

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3a1f46b091c1ce14. Report an issue: GitHub.