cube-js/cube · critical

CUBESQL_CUBE_URL is a required ENV variable

Error message

CUBESQL_CUBE_URL is a required ENV variable

What it means

The HTTP-based authentication service reads CUBESQL_CUBE_URL for the base URL of the Cube REST API when constructing an HttpAuthContext. If it is unset the process panics, since CubeSQL must know where to forward authentication/load requests.

Source

Thrown at rust/cubesql/cubesql/src/sql/auth_service.rs:83

crate::di_service!(SqlAuthDefaultImpl, [SqlAuthService]);

#[async_trait]
impl SqlAuthService for SqlAuthDefaultImpl {
    async fn authenticate(
        &self,
        _request: SqlAuthServiceAuthenticateRequest,
        _user: Option<String>,
        password: Option<String>,
    ) -> Result<AuthenticateResponse, CubeError> {
        Ok(AuthenticateResponse {
            context: Arc::new(HttpAuthContext {
                access_token: env::var("CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN")
                    .ok()
                    .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN is a required ENV variable")),
                base_path: env::var("CUBESQL_CUBE_URL")
                    .ok()
                    .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("CUBESQL_CUBE_URL is a required ENV variable")),
            }),
            password,
            skip_password_check: false,
        })
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d981676b3)

Solutions

1. Set CUBESQL_CUBE_URL to the reachable Cube REST API base URL (e.g. http://cube:4000) and restart
2. Add the env entry to your deployment manifest or .env file
3. Verify network reachability of the URL from the CubeSQL container

Example fix

// before
CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN=tok
# CUBESQL_CUBE_URL unset
// after
CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN=tok
CUBESQL_CUBE_URL=http://cube:4000

fn require_env(key: &str) -> Result<String, String> {
    match std::env::var(key) {
        Ok(v) if !v.is_empty() => Ok(v),
        _ => Err(format!("{} is required", key)),
    }
}
let url = require_env("CUBESQL_CUBE_URL")?;
assert!(url.starts_with("http"), "CUBESQL_CUBE_URL must be a valid base URL");

When it happens

Trigger: Starting CubeSQL with the HTTP auth service without CUBESQL_CUBE_URL defined in the environment.

Common situations: Service DNS name omitted in Kubernetes; misconfigured docker-compose service env; the Cube container address changed and the env var was dropped.

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN is a required ENV variable
• wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}'
• wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}'
• This query doesnt have a plan, because it already has values
• Should be rewritten with UtcTimestamp function

AI-assisted analysis of cube-js/cube@7d981676b3 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a1cc46649b8c468b. Report an issue: GitHub.