clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB · info · anyhow::Error

Aborting because major version upgrade was not accepted.

Error message

Aborting because major version upgrade was not accepted.

What it means

Publishing a 2.x module over a 1.x database is a one-way major version upgrade. The CLI requires typing exactly 'upgrade' at the prompt (after pointing at the upgrade notes); any other input — 'yes', 'y', or empty — aborts the publish before anything changes (publish.rs:367).

Source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/subcommands/publish.rs:367

    println!();
    println!("WARNING: Once you publish you cannot revert back to version 1.0.");
    println!();

    if skip_prompt {
        return Ok(());
    }

    let mut input = String::new();
    print!("Please type 'upgrade' to accept this change: ");
    let mut stdout = std::io::stdout();
    std::io::Write::flush(&mut stdout)?;
    std::io::stdin().read_line(&mut input)?;

    if input.trim() == "upgrade" {
        return Ok(());
    }

    anyhow::bail!("Aborting because major version upgrade was not accepted.");
}

pub async fn exec(config: Config, args: &ArgMatches) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
    exec_with_options(config, args, false, None).await
}

/// This function can be used when calling publish programatically rather than straight from the
/// CLI, like we do in `spacetime dev`. When calling from `spacetime dev` we don't want to display
/// information about using the `spacetime.json` file as it's already announced as part of the
/// `dev` command
pub async fn exec_with_options(
    mut config: Config,
    args: &ArgMatches,
    quiet_config: bool,
    pre_loaded_config: Option<&LoadedConfig>,
) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
    // Build schema
    let cmd = cli();

View on GitHub (pinned to 524b4487d9)

Solutions

  1. Re-run the publish and type exactly: upgrade
  2. First read the linked upgrade notes (https://spacetimedb.com/docs/upgrade) — the upgrade cannot be reverted to 1.0
  3. If the upgrade was not intended, keep the module on 1.x or publish to a fresh database name
  4. For automation, pre-plan the interactive step or schedule the upgrade deliberately

Example fix

// before (aborted)
Please type 'upgrade' to accept this change: yes
// after
Please type 'upgrade' to accept this change: upgrade
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# automation must expect the literal word, not y/n
printf 'upgrade\n' | spacetime publish mydb   # only when the upgrade is intended

Try / catch

if ! spacetime publish mydb; then
  echo 'publish not confirmed; database untouched (still v1)' >&2
fi

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: During `spacetime publish` over an existing v1 database with a v2 module, typing anything other than exactly `upgrade` at the 'Please type upgrade' prompt.

Common situations: Assuming y/n semantics; aborting intentionally after reading the irreversibility warning; CI pipelines stumbling into an interactive prompt; not having read the upgrade notes yet.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB@524b4487d9 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5e5ed813a2ea6f6a. Report an issue: GitHub.