cube-js/cube · error · Error

Please specify CUBEJS_DB_URL

Error message

Please specify CUBEJS_DB_URL

What it means

DruidDriver's constructor resolves the Druid SQL endpoint URL from config. If neither a url/CUBEJS_DB_URL nor a usable host+port pair (CUBEJS_DB_HOST and CUBEJS_DB_PORT) is provided, it throws 'Please specify CUBEJS_DB_URL' at driver instantiation time.

Source

Thrown at packages/cubejs-druid-driver/src/DruidDriver.ts:90

    });

    const dataSource =
      config.dataSource ||
      assertDataSource('default');
    const preAggregations = config.preAggregations || false;

    let url = config.url || getEnv('dbUrl', { dataSource, preAggregations });

    if (!url) {
      const host = getEnv('dbHost', { dataSource, preAggregations });
      const port = getEnv('dbPort', { dataSource, preAggregations });
      if (host && port) {
        const protocol = getEnv('dbSsl', { dataSource, preAggregations })
          ? 'https'
          : 'http';
        url = `${protocol}://${host}:${port}`;
      } else {
        throw new Error('Please specify CUBEJS_DB_URL');
      }
    }
    this.config = {
      url,
      user:
        config.user ||
        getEnv('dbUser', { dataSource, preAggregations }),
      password:
        config.password ||
        getEnv('dbPass', { dataSource, preAggregations }),
      database:
        config.database ||
        getEnv('dbName', { dataSource, preAggregations }) ||
        'default',
      ...config,
    };
    this.client = new DruidClient(this.config);
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d981676b3)

Solutions

1. Set CUBEJS_DB_URL, e.g. CUBEJS_DB_URL=http://druid-broker:8082.
2. Or set both CUBEJS_DB_HOST and CUBEJS_DB_PORT so the driver can build the URL.
3. Pass `url` explicitly in the driver options object when constructing the driver programmatically.

Example fix

// before (.env)
CUBEJS_DB_TYPE=druid
CUBEJS_DB_HOST=druid-broker
// after
CUBEJS_DB_TYPE=druid
CUBEJS_DB_URL=http://druid-broker:8082
# or: CUBEJS_DB_HOST=druid-broker + CUBEJS_DB_PORT=8082

if (!process.env.CUBEJS_DB_URL && !(process.env.CUBEJS_DB_HOST && process.env.CUBEJS_DB_PORT)) {
  throw new Error('Provide CUBEJS_DB_URL or CUBEJS_DB_HOST+CUBEJS_DB_PORT for Druid');
}

function hasDruidEndpoint(cfg) {
  return Boolean(cfg?.url || (cfg?.host && cfg?.port));
}

try {
  const driver = new DruidDriver(config);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'Please specify CUBEJS_DB_URL') {
    console.error('Druid endpoint missing: set CUBEJS_DB_URL');
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Creating a DruidDriver (or starting Cube with dbType: 'druid') without `url` in config and without both `host` and `port` set — e.g. CUBEJS_DB_URL unset and CUBEJS_DB_HOST missing or CUBEJS_DB_PORT missing.

Common situations: Incomplete .env during initial setup; only CUBEJS_DB_HOST provided without a port; typo'd env var name so the config field is undefined; Kubernetes secret missing the URL key.

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

• CUBEJS_DB_NAME can`t be empty.
• You are using an old version of Druid. Unable to detect colu
• Unexpected return type, driverFactory must return driver (da
• unknown env variable {}
• A user-defined contextToApiScopes function returns an incons

AI-assisted analysis of cube-js/cube@7d981676b3 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0893552e5e0cd73f. Report an issue: GitHub.