argoproj/argo-workflows · error

requires either node field selector or workflow

Error message

requires either node field selector or workflow

What it means

`argo retry` requires a workflow name (positional args) or a selector via retryOpts.hasSelector() (--node-field-selector or equivalent) to know what to retry. The cobra Args validator at cmd/argo/commands/retry.go:80 returns this error when neither is given, since retrying 'nothing' is undefined.

Source

Thrown at cmd/argo/commands/retry.go:80

# Retry and watch until completion:

  argo retry --watch my-wf.yaml

# Retry and tail logs until completion:

  argo retry --log my-wf.yaml

# Retry the latest workflow:

  argo retry @latest

# Restart node with id 5 on successful workflow, using node-field-selector
  argo retry my-wf --restart-successful --node-field-selector id=5
`,
		Args: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
			if len(args) == 0 && !retryOpts.hasSelector() {
				return errors.New("requires either node field selector or workflow")
			}
			return nil
		},
		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
			ctx := cmd.Context()
			ctx, apiClient, err := client.NewAPIClient(ctx)
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
			serviceClient := apiClient.NewWorkflowServiceClient(ctx)
			retryOpts.namespace = client.Namespace(ctx)

			return retryWorkflows(ctx, serviceClient, retryOpts, cliSubmitOpts, args)
		},
	}
	command.Flags().StringArrayVarP(&cliSubmitOpts.Parameters, "parameter", "p", []string{}, "input parameter to override on the original workflow spec")
	command.Flags().VarP(&cliSubmitOpts.Output, "output", "o", "Output format. "+cliSubmitOpts.Output.Usage())
	command.Flags().BoolVarP(&cliSubmitOpts.Wait, "wait", "w", false, "wait for the workflow to complete, only works when a single workflow is retried")

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Add the workflow name: `argo retry my-wf`
2. Or add a selector: `argo retry --node-field-selector id=5` (optionally with --restart-successful)
3. Check scripts for empty/unset variables passed as the workflow name

Example fix

// before
argo retry --restart-successful
// after
argo retry my-wf --restart-successful --node-field-selector id=5

if [ -z "$WF_NAME" ] && [ -z "$NODE_FIELD_SELECTOR" ]; then
  echo "argo retry: requires either node field selector or workflow" >&2; exit 2
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `argo retry` with no workflow argument and no selector flags (retryOpts.hasSelector() false) — e.g. `argo retry --restart-successful` alone.

Common situations: Scripting with an empty workflow-name variable; assuming retry re-operates on the last workflow; truncating a longer command when editing shell history.

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

• requires either node field selector or workflow
• requires either selector or workflow
• --since-time and --since cannot be used together
• cannot combine --from with file arguments
• cannot watch more than one workflow

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/584d6419df6c4710. Report an issue: GitHub.