cayleygraph/cayley · error

could not retrieve connmaxlifetime from options: %v

Error message

could not retrieve connmaxlifetime from options: %v

What it means

connect reads the "connmaxlifetime" string option via graph.Options.StringKey (default ""). If StringKey returns an error — e.g. the key is present but not a string — connect wraps it as "could not retrieve connmaxlifetime from options". Reached through Init or New.

Source

Thrown at graph/sql/quadstore.go:134

}

func connect(addr string, flavor string, opts graph.Options) (*sql.DB, error) {
	maxOpenConnections, err := opts.IntKey("maxopenconnections", -1)

	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve maxopenconnections from options: %v", err)
	}

	maxIdleConnections, err := opts.IntKey("maxidleconnections", -1)

	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve maxIdleConnections from options: %v", err)
	}

	connMaxLifetime, err := opts.StringKey("connmaxlifetime", "")

	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not retrieve connmaxlifetime from options: %v", err)
	}

	var connDuration time.Duration
	if connMaxLifetime != "" {
		connDuration, err = time.ParseDuration(connMaxLifetime)

		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("couldn't parse connmaxlifetime string: %v", err)
		}
	}

	// TODO(barakmich): Parse options for more friendly addr
	conn, err := sql.Open(flavor, addr)
	if err != nil {
		clog.Errorf("Couldn't open database at %s: %#v", addr, err)
		return nil, err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 81dcd7d73e)

Solutions

1. Set "connmaxlifetime" as a string duration (e.g. "1h30m") or omit the key.
2. Quote the value in config files so loaders deliver a string.
3. Check the wrapped underlying error for the exact type failure.

Example fix

// before
{"connmaxlifetime": 3600}
// after
{"connmaxlifetime": "1h"}

if v, ok := opts["connmaxlifetime"]; ok {
    if _, isStr := v.(string); !isStr {
        return fmt.Errorf("connmaxlifetime must be a string duration, got %T", v)
    }
}

qs, err := quadstore.New(addr, opts)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "connmaxlifetime") && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "could not retrieve") {
        // make the value a string duration
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: New/Init call where opts has "connmaxlifetime" set to a non-string value (int, bool, map).

Common situations: Config where connmaxlifetime is an unquoted number (e.g. 3600 instead of "1h"); typed Options builders passing a duration object instead of a string.

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

• could not retrieve maxopenconnections from options: %v
• could not retrieve maxIdleConnections from options: %v
• couldn't parse connmaxlifetime string: %v
• Invalid %s parameter type from config: %T
• could not open config file %q: %v

AI-assisted analysis of cayleygraph/cayley@81dcd7d73e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7f579ea8c84962de. Report an issue: GitHub.