argoproj/argo-workflows · error

retryMultiple cannot be less than 0

Error message

retryMultiple cannot be less than 0

What it means

validateProxyParams rejects a negative retryMultiple, the exponential backoff multiplier applied to baseDelay on each reconnect attempt. A negative multiplier would invert the backoff progression, so NewSessionProxy rejects it. Pure input validation.

Source

Thrown at util/sqldb/session.go:71

	Username      string
	Password      string
	MaxRetries    int
	BaseDelay     time.Duration
	MaxDelay      time.Duration
}

func validateProxyParams(proxy *SessionProxy) error {
	if proxy.maxRetries < 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("maxRetries cannot be less than 0")
	}
	if proxy.baseDelay < 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("baseDelay cannot be less than 0")
	}
	if proxy.maxDelay < 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("maxDelay cannot be less than 0")
	}
	if proxy.retryMultiple < 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("retryMultiple cannot be less than 0")
	}
	return nil
}

// NewSessionProxy creates a new SessionProxy with the given configuration
func NewSessionProxy(ctx context.Context, config SessionProxyConfig) (*SessionProxy, error) {
	dbType := dbTypeFromConfig(&config.DBConfig)
	proxy := &SessionProxy{
		kubectlConfig: config.KubectlConfig,
		namespace:     config.Namespace,
		dbConfig:      &config.DBConfig,
		username:      config.Username,
		password:      config.Password,
		dbType:        dbType,
		maxRetries:    config.MaxRetries,
		baseDelay:     config.BaseDelay,
		maxDelay:      config.MaxDelay,
		retryMultiple: 2.0,

View on GitHub (pinned to 35bff19146)

Solutions

1. Set RetryMultiple to a positive value (typically 1.0 or 2.0); values between 0 and 1 are tolerated but clamped to 1.0.
2. Fix the negative retryMultiple in the dbReconnectConfig config entry.
3. If parsing from YAML/JSON, verify sign and that the field is a number, not a string coerced oddly.
4. Omit the field entirely to keep the default 2.0.

Example fix

// before
retryMultiple: -1.5
// after
retryMultiple: 2.0

if cfg.RetryMultiple < 0 {
    return fmt.Errorf("RetryMultiple must be >= 0, got %f", cfg.RetryMultiple)
}

if err := NewSessionProxy(ctx, cfg); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "retryMultiple cannot be less than 0") {
        cfg.DBConfig.DBReconnectConfig.RetryMultiple = 2.0
        return NewSessionProxy(ctx, cfg)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling NewSessionProxy with DBConfig.DBReconnectConfig.RetryMultiple < 0 (the only path that sets it, other than the internal default 2.0).

Common situations: Negative retryMultiple in the controller config dbReconnectConfig; a config generator emitting a negative float; confusion with the (allowed but clamped) 0..1 range, which the code coerces to 1.0.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

• maxRetries cannot be less than 0
• baseDelay cannot be less than 0
• maxDelay cannot be less than 0
• insufficient authentication information provided
• invalid uid

AI-assisted analysis of argoproj/argo-workflows@35bff19146 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd419752f0714910. Report an issue: GitHub.