argoproj/argo-workflows · error

invalid mode

Error message

invalid mode

What it means

Modes.Add rejects a --auth-mode value that is not one of client, server, sso, or hybrid. It is a validation guard on the argo-server startup configuration; the offending string is whatever was passed to --auth-mode.

Source

Thrown at server/auth/mode.go:28

type Modes map[Mode]bool

type Mode string

const (
	Client Mode = "client"
	Server Mode = "server"
	SSO    Mode = "sso"
)

func (m Modes) Add(value string) error {
	switch value {
	case "client", "server", "sso":
		m[Mode(value)] = true
	case "hybrid":
		m[Client] = true
		m[Server] = true
	default:
		return errors.New("invalid mode")
	}
	return nil
}

func (m Modes) GetMode(authorisation string) (Mode, bool) {
	if m[SSO] && strings.HasPrefix(authorisation, sso.Prefix) {
		return SSO, true
	}
	if m[Client] && (strings.HasPrefix(authorisation, "Bearer ") || strings.HasPrefix(authorisation, "Basic ")) {
		return Client, true
	}
	if m[Server] {
		return Server, true
	}
	return "", false
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Set --auth-mode to one of client, server, sso, or hybrid
2. For hybrid SSO+client setups use --auth-mode sso --auth-mode client

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/auth/mode.go:28 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e9d50193f9e902db. Report an issue: GitHub.