apache/seatunnel · error · IllegalArgumentException

Stripe option 'rate_limit_backoff_ms' must not be negative

Error message

Stripe option 'rate_limit_backoff_ms' must not be negative

What it means

buildWithConfig validates the rate_limit_backoff_ms option, the base delay in milliseconds between Stripe 429 retry attempts. Negative delays are nonsensical, so the connector throws this IllegalArgumentException during config validation.

Solutions

Set rate_limit_backoff_ms to a non-negative value (e.g. 1000).
Remove the option to use the default backoff.
If retries feel too slow, lower the positive value rather than making it negative.
Validate related rate_limit_max_retries is also non-negative so the pair is consistent.

Example fix

// before
rate_limit_backoff_ms = -500
// after
rate_limit_backoff_ms = 1000

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

long backoff = pluginConfig.get(StripeSourceOptions.RATE_LIMIT_BACKOFF_MS);
if (backoff < 0) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("rate_limit_backoff_ms must be >= 0");
}

Try / catch

try {
    StripeSourceParameter p = StripeSourceParameter.buildWithConfig(pluginConfig);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid rate_limit_backoff_ms: " + e.getMessage(), e);
}

Prevention

Use positive millisecond values (e.g. 500-2000) for backoff.
Never use negatives to 'speed up' retries; reduce the positive value instead.
Pair-validate backoff with max_retries in config templates.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling buildWithConfig with pluginConfig where RATE_LIMIT_BACKOFF_MS resolves to a negative long, e.g. rate_limit_backoff_ms = -500.

Common situations: User tries to speed up polling with a negative value; sign typo; misreading the option as a relative adjustment rather than an absolute delay.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/35db86eeafc1d720. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-http/connector-http-stripe/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/stripe/source/config/StripeSourceParameter.java:79

        if (createdGte != null && createdGte < 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Stripe option 'created_gte' must not be negative");
        }
        if (createdLt != null && createdLt < 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Stripe option 'created_lt' must not be negative");
        }
        if (createdGte != null && createdLt != null && createdGte >= createdLt) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    "Stripe option 'created_gte' must be less than 'created_lt'");
        }

        this.rateLimitMaxRetries = pluginConfig.get(StripeSourceOptions.RATE_LIMIT_MAX_RETRIES);
        this.rateLimitBackoffMs = pluginConfig.get(StripeSourceOptions.RATE_LIMIT_BACKOFF_MS);
        if (rateLimitMaxRetries < 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    "Stripe option 'rate_limit_max_retries' must not be negative");
        }
        if (rateLimitBackoffMs < 0) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    "Stripe option 'rate_limit_backoff_ms' must not be negative");
        }

        setUrl(trimTrailingSlash(apiBaseUrl.trim()) + PAYMENT_INTENTS_PATH);
        setMethod(HttpRequestMethod.GET);

        Map<String, String> requestHeaders = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        requestHeaders.put(AUTHORIZATION, "Bearer " + secretKey);
        requestHeaders.put(ACCEPT, "application/json");
        pluginConfig
                .getOptional(StripeSourceOptions.API_VERSION)
                .filter(version -> !version.trim().isEmpty())
                .ifPresent(version -> requestHeaders.put(STRIPE_VERSION, version.trim()));
        setHeaders(requestHeaders);

        Map<String, String> requestParams = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        requestParams.put("limit", Integer.toString(pageSize));
        if (createdGte != null) {

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