apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Type . doesn't exist

Error message

Type %s.%s doesn't exist

What it means

Thrown by ALTER TYPE when the user-defined type being altered does not exist in the keyspace. Without `IF EXISTS`, the statement fails rather than silently doing nothing; with `IF EXISTS`, the alteration is a no-op. This guards schema statements against referencing nonexistent type definitions.

Solutions

1. Verify the type exists with `DESCRIBE KEYSPACE ks;` or a system_schema.types query and correct the name
2. Add `IF EXISTS` (`ALTER TYPE ks.typ ADD ... IF EXISTS`) if a no-op is acceptable when the type is absent
3. Ensure the migration that creates the type runs before the one that alters it

Example fix

// before
ALTER TYPE ks.address ADD zip text;
// after
ALTER TYPE ks.address ADD zip text IF EXISTS;

boolean typeExists = session.execute("SELECT type_name FROM system_schema.types WHERE keyspace_name=? AND type_name=?", ks, typeName).iterator().hasNext();
if (!typeExists) throw new IllegalStateException("Type " + ks + "." + typeName + " does not exist");

boolean userTypeExists(Session s, String ks, String typeName) {
    return s.execute("SELECT type_name FROM system_schema.types WHERE keyspace_name=? AND type_name=?", ks, typeName).iterator().hasNext();
}

try { session.execute(alterTypeStmt); }
catch (InvalidQueryException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Type ") && e.getMessage().endsWith("doesn't exist")) {
        // create the type or skip
    } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Executing `ALTER TYPE ks.typ ADD field type` (or any ALTER TYPE variant) where `keyspace.types.getNullable(bytes(typeName))` returns null, i.e. no UDT of that name exists in the keyspace, and the statement lacks `IF EXISTS`.

Common situations: Typo in the type name or keyspace; running a migration before the CREATE TYPE statement; dropping the type in an earlier migration and then trying to alter it; connecting to a cluster where the type was never created.

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

• Cannot add new field
• Cannot add new field
• Cannot drop non-frozen column
• Invalid field deletion operation for non-UDT column
• Non-frozen UDTs are not allowed inside collections:

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/967afa22a4c6ca8c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/schema/AlterTypeStatement.java:89

    SchemaChange schemaChangeEvent(Keyspaces.KeyspacesDiff diff)
    {
        return new SchemaChange(Change.UPDATED, Target.TYPE, keyspaceName, typeName);
    }

    @Override
    public Keyspaces apply(ClusterMetadata metadata)
    {
        Keyspaces schema = metadata.schema.getKeyspaces();
        KeyspaceMetadata keyspace = schema.getNullable(keyspaceName);

        UserType type = null == keyspace
                      ? null
                      : keyspace.types.getNullable(bytes(typeName));

        if (null == type)
        {
            if (!ifExists)
                throw ire("Type %s.%s doesn't exist", keyspaceName, typeName);
            return schema;
        }

        return schema.withAddedOrUpdated(keyspace.withUpdatedUserType(apply(keyspace, type)));
    }

    abstract UserType apply(KeyspaceMetadata keyspace, UserType type);

    @Override
    public AuditLogContext getAuditLogContext()
    {
        return new AuditLogContext(AuditLogEntryType.ALTER_TYPE, keyspaceName, typeName);
    }

    public String toString()
    {
        return String.format("%s (%s, %s)", getClass().getSimpleName(), keyspaceName, typeName);
    }

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