clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB · error · anyhow::Error

No database target matches '{}'. Available databases: {}

Error message

No database target matches '{}'. Available databases: {}

What it means

`spacetime generate --database <selector>` picks the generate targets to run by matching each spacetime.json target's `database` field against a glob pattern. When the pattern matches no target, the CLI aborts and prints every database name it found across all inheritance-merged targets. The glob matcher is the `glob` crate, so `*` and `?` are active characters in the selector.

Source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/subcommands/generate.rs:100

    // Filter by database name pattern (glob) if provided via CLI
    let filtered_targets = if let Some(cli_database) = args.get_one::<String>("database") {
        let pattern =
            glob::Pattern::new(cli_database).with_context(|| format!("Invalid glob pattern: {cli_database}"))?;

        let matched: Vec<_> = all_targets
            .into_iter()
            .filter(|target| {
                target
                    .fields
                    .get("database")
                    .and_then(|v| v.as_str())
                    .is_some_and(|db| pattern.matches(db))
            })
            .collect();

        if matched.is_empty() {
            anyhow::bail!(
                "No database target matches '{}'. Available databases: {}",
                cli_database,
                spacetime_config
                    .collect_all_targets_with_inheritance()
                    .iter()
                    .filter_map(|t| t.fields.get("database").and_then(|v| v.as_str()))
                    .collect::<Vec<_>>()
                    .join(", ")
            );
        }

        matched
    } else {
        all_targets
    };

    // Collect generate entries from matched targets, inheriting entity fields
    // Deduplicate by (module_path, serialized_generate_entry)

View on GitHub (pinned to 524b4487d9)

Solutions

1. Compare your selector against the 'Available databases: ...' list printed in the error and re-run with an exact name from that list
2. Add or fix the `database` field on the intended generate target(s) in spacetime.json
3. Drop `--database` entirely to generate every target
4. If the available list is empty, your spacetime.json targets lack `database` fields — define them or migrate the config to the database-centric target format

Example fix

// spacetime.json — before
{
  "generate": { "targets": [ { "lang": "typescript", "out-dir": "src/generated" } ] }
}

// spacetime.json — after
{
  "generate": { "targets": [ { "database": "mydb", "lang": "typescript", "out-dir": "src/generated" } ] }
}

// then: spacetime generate --database mydb

# Before `spacetime generate --database mydb`, confirm a target declares it:
jq -e '.generate.targets[]? | select((.database // "") == "mydb")' spacetime.json > /dev/null \
  || echo "WARN: no generate target with database=mydb in spacetime.json"

#!/usr/bin/env bash
if ! spacetime generate --database "$DB" 2>err.log; then
  if grep -q "No database target matches" err.log; then
    echo "Config drift: '$DB' not declared in spacetime.json (check 'Available databases' in err.log)" >&2
    exit 2  # distinct exit code for config errors
  fi
  cat err.log >&2
  exit 1
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `spacetime generate --database mydb` when no target in spacetime.json (or an inherited parent config) declares `"database": "mydb"`; a glob like `--database 'prod-*'` that matches nothing; targets that omit the `database` field entirely so the available list comes back empty.

Common situations: Typos or renamed databases in spacetime.json; monorepos where targets live in a parent config; configs written before per-target `database` fields existed; scripts that hardcode a database name from another environment.

Related errors

• transaction retry failed again
• wrong number of elements
• too many elements
• Manual database migrations are not yet implemented
• Multiple databases found in config: {}. Please specify which

AI-assisted analysis of clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB@524b4487d9 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2c6aa6a3b32feb2e. Report an issue: GitHub.