benbjohnson/litestream · error

invalid value for litestream_write_enabled: %s (use 0 or 1)

Error message

invalid value for litestream_write_enabled: %s (use 0 or 1)

What it means

Validation in the litestream_write_enabled PRAGMA handler: the supplied value is not one of 0/false/off or 1/true/on. Fires when a user sets the PRAGMA to an unrecognized string, since write mode is strictly boolean.

Source

Thrown at vfs.go:2525

				return &result, nil
			}
			result := "0"
			return &result, nil
		}
		// WRITE mode - enable or disable
		switch strings.ToLower(*pragmaValue) {
		case "0", "false", "off":
			if err := f.SetWriteEnabled(false); err != nil {
				return nil, err
			}
			return nil, nil
		case "1", "true", "on":
			if err := f.SetWriteEnabled(true); err != nil {
				return nil, err
			}
			return nil, nil
		default:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid value for litestream_write_enabled: %s (use 0 or 1)", *pragmaValue)
		}

	default:
		return nil, sqlite3vfs.NotFoundError
	}
}

// currentTimeString returns the current target time as a string.
func (f *VFSFile) currentTimeString() string {
	if t := f.TargetTime(); t != nil {
		return t.Format(time.RFC3339Nano)
	}
	if t := f.LatestLTXTime(); !t.IsZero() {
		return t.Format(time.RFC3339Nano)
	}
	return "latest" // Fallback if no LTX files loaded
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4ed7a308f6)

Solutions

1. Use `PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = 1` to enable writes and `= 0` to disable
2. If dynamic, map your boolean to "0"/"1" before building the pragma statement
3. Note 'true', 'false', 'on', 'off' are also accepted, case-insensitively

Example fix

// before
conn.Exec("PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = 'yes'")
// after
conn.Exec("PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = 1")

function writeEnabledPragmaValue(v) {
  const s = String(v).toLowerCase();
  if (!["0","1","true","false","on","off"].includes(s)) throw new Error(`invalid litestream_write_enabled: ${v}`);
  return s;
}
// use: `PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = ${writeEnabledPragmaValue(flag)}`

try {
  conn.exec(`PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = ${normalized}`);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes("invalid value for litestream_write_enabled")) {
    conn.exec("PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = 1");
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Executing `PRAGMA litestream_write_enabled = 'yes'` (or any string other than 0/false/off/1/true/on, case-insensitive) on a connection using the Litestream VFS.

Common situations: Typo'd values like 'enabled', 'enable', 'yes', 'no'; locale-formatted booleans; shell quoting issues producing values with trailing whitespace beyond the ToLower-normalized set.

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

• set page size: %w
• set journal mode: %w
• set synchronous: %w
• database path required
• checkpoint: %w

AI-assisted analysis of benbjohnson/litestream@4ed7a308f6 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7ce9212efbec889c. Report an issue: GitHub.