apache/pulsar · error · RestException

Topic does not exist and cannot be auto-created

Error message

Topic does not exist and cannot be auto-created

What it means

internalCreateSubscriptionForNonPartitionedTopic found the topic absent and broker configuration disallows auto-creation (isAllowAutoTopicCreationAsync returned false), so subscription creation fails with 404 because there is no topic to subscribe to.

Solutions

1. Create the topic explicitly first, then create the subscription
2. Enable topic auto-creation on the namespace/broker if that matches your policy

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/admin/impl/PersistentTopicsBase.java:2491 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/pulsar@820761864e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/adf5cdecc6fd5c88. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/admin/impl/PersistentTopicsBase.java:2491

            return null;
        });
    }

    private void internalCreateSubscriptionForNonPartitionedTopic(
            AsyncResponse asyncResponse, String subscriptionName,
            MessageIdImpl targetMessageId, boolean authoritative, boolean replicated,
            Map<String, String> properties) {

        validateTopicOwnershipAsync(topicName, authoritative)
                .thenCompose(__ -> validateTopicOperationAsync(topicName, TopicOperation.SUBSCRIBE, subscriptionName))
                .thenCompose(__ -> pulsar().getBrokerService().isAllowAutoTopicCreationAsync(topicName))
                .thenCompose(isAllowAutoTopicCreation -> pulsar().getBrokerService()
                        .getTopic(topicName.toString(), isAllowAutoTopicCreation))
                .thenApply(optTopic -> {
                    if (optTopic.isPresent()) {
                        return optTopic.get();
                    } else {
                        throw new RestException(Status.PRECONDITION_FAILED,
                                "Topic does not exist and cannot be auto-created");
                    }
        }).thenCompose(topic -> {
            if (topic.getSubscriptions().containsKey(subscriptionName)) {
                throw new RestException(Status.CONFLICT, "Subscription already exists for topic");
            }

            return topic.createSubscription(subscriptionName, InitialPosition.Latest, replicated, properties);
        }).thenCompose(subscription -> {
            // Mark the cursor as "inactive" as it was created without a real consumer connected
            ((PersistentSubscription) subscription).deactivateCursor();
            return subscription.resetCursor(
                    PositionFactory.create(targetMessageId.getLedgerId(), targetMessageId.getEntryId()));
        }).thenRun(() -> {
            log.info()
                    .attr("topic", topicName)
                    .attr("subscription", subscriptionName)
                    .attr("messageId", targetMessageId)

View on GitHub (pinned to 820761864e)