clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB · info · anyhow::Error

Publishing aborted by user

Error message

Publishing aborted by user

What it means

The pre-publish check returned an auto-migration plan, but the server flagged `break_clients: true` — the plan's schema changes will break existing subscribed clients. Unless a force flag is set, the CLI asks 'The above changes will BREAK existing clients. Do you want to proceed?'; a non-`y` answer bails here before the publish request with the `BreakClients` policy token is ever sent.

Source

Thrown at crates/cli/src/subcommands/publish.rs:814

                }
                println!("{}", manual.reason);
                println!("Proceeding with database clear due to --delete-data=on-conflict.");

                builder = confirm_and_clear(name_or_identity, yes.delete_data, builder)?;
            }
            PrePublishResult::AutoMigrate(auto) => {
                println!("{}", auto.migrate_plan);
                // We only arrive here if you have not specified ClearMode::Always AND there was no
                // conflict that required manual migration.
                if auto.break_clients
                    && !y_or_n(
                        force_break_clients || yes.break_clients,
                        "The above changes will BREAK existing clients. Do you want to proceed?",
                    )?
                {
                    println!("Aborting");
                    // Early exit: return an error or a special signal. Here we bail out by returning Err.
                    anyhow::bail!("Publishing aborted by user");
                }
                builder = builder
                    .query(&[("token", auto.token)])
                    .query(&[("policy", "BreakClients")]);
            }
        }
    }

    Ok(builder)
}

async fn call_pre_publish(
    client: &reqwest::Client,
    database_host: &str,
    domain: &String,
    host_type: &str,
    program_bytes: &[u8],
    auth_header: &AuthHeader,

View on GitHub (pinned to 524b4487d9)

Solutions

1. Answer `y` at the prompt if breaking clients is acceptable right now
2. Pass the break-clients force flag (`force_break_clients`, e.g. `--break-clients`) or `--yes` so non-interactive runs proceed
3. If clients must keep working, revert the breaking schema change and republish a compatible version
4. Coordinate the publish with a client update so subscribers reconnect against the new schema

Example fix

# before
spacetime publish mydb        # auto plan flags break_clients -> declined -> aborted
# after
spacetime publish mydb --break-clients --yes

// CI wrapper: detect the break-clients abort and either flag it or retry with the force flag
let out = run_cli("spacetime publish db");
if out.contains("Publishing aborted by user") && out.contains("BREAK existing clients") {
    return Err("publish would break clients; coordinate a client release first");
}

When it happens

Trigger: Publishing additive-but-client-visible schema changes (renamed/removed columns or tables encoded in client bindings) while existing clients are live; answering 'n' or hitting EOF at the prompt in a non-interactive run.

Common situations: Altering a table definition while a game client built against the old schema is deployed; CI publishing without the break-clients/yes flag so stdin EOF aborts; consciously testing whether a change is breaking by reading the printed plan.

Related errors

• Manual database migrations are not yet implemented
• Publish aborted by user.
• Aborting because publishing would require manual migration o
• Aborted.
• Aborted.

AI-assisted analysis of clockworklabs/SpacetimeDB@524b4487d9 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31bd72b5d362ce24. Report an issue: GitHub.