cube-js/cube · error · Error

The ${origin} environment variable can not be converted for

Error message

The ${origin} environment variable can not be converted for the ${dataSource} data source.

What it means

keyByDataSource converts a generic CUBEJS_* environment variable name into a per-data-source name like CUBEJS_DS_<DS>_<SUFFIX> by splitting on 'CUBEJS_'. Cube throws this error when the variable name does not contain exactly one 'CUBEJS_' prefix (the split yields more than 2 parts), so it cannot be mechanically rewritten for the requested data source.

Source

Thrown at packages/cubejs-backend-shared/src/env.ts:118

  }
}

/**
 * Returns data source specific environment variable name.
 */
export function keyByDataSource(origin: string, dataSource?: string, preAggregations?: boolean): string {
  if (dataSource) assertDataSource(dataSource);

  let key: string;

  if (!isMultipleDataSources() || dataSource === 'default' || !dataSource) {
    key = origin;
  } else {
    const s = origin.split('CUBEJS_');
    if (s.length === 2) {
      key = `CUBEJS_DS_${dataSource.toUpperCase()}_${s[1]}`;
    } else {
      throw new Error(
        `The ${
          origin
        } environment variable can not be converted for the ${
          dataSource
        } data source.`
      );
    }
  }

  if (preAggregations) {
    const dsMatch = key.match(/^(CUBEJS_DS_[A-Z0-9_]+?_)(DB_|JDBC_|AWS_|DATABASE|FIREBOLT_)(.*)/);
    if (dsMatch) {
      return `${dsMatch[1]}PRE_AGGREGATIONS_${dsMatch[2]}${dsMatch[3]}`;
    }

    if (key.startsWith('CUBEJS_')) {
      return key.replace(/^CUBEJS_/, 'CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_');
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d981676b3)

Solutions

1. Pass the generic variable name (e.g. 'CUBEJS_API_SECRET'), not one that already contains a CUBEJS_DS_ prefix, to keyByDataSource.
2. Check the offending env var name for duplicated CUBEJS_/CUBEJS_DS_ prefixes and fix the typo in your environment configuration.
3. If you need a data-source-specific value, set CUBEJS_DS_<DATASOURCE>_<SUFFIX> directly in the environment instead of converting a converted name.
4. For custom integrations, ensure dataSource is a valid non-empty string so toUpperCase produces the expected key.

Example fix

// before
const key = keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DS_MYSQL_DB_USER', 'mysql'); // throws
// after
const key = keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DB_USER', 'mysql'); // -> CUBEJS_DS_MYSQL_DB_USER

function isConvertibleEnvName(name) {
  return typeof name === 'string' && name.split('CUBEJS_').length === 2;
}
if (!isConvertibleEnvName('CUBEJS_DB_USER')) throw new Error('name must contain exactly one CUBEJS_ prefix');

function isConvertibleEnvName(name: unknown): name is `CUBEJS_${string}` {
  return typeof name === 'string' && /^CUBEJS_(?!.*CUBEJS_).+/.test(name);
}

try {
  const key = keyByDataSource(name, dataSource);
} catch (e) {
  console.error(`Cannot derive DS-specific var for ${name}: ${e.message}`);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling any env-flags accessor (variables, val, key, value, credentials, extensions) with a dataSource while the underlying variable name contains 'CUBEJS_' twice — e.g. an already data-source-scoped name like CUBEJS_DS_PG_CUBEJS_API_SECRET, or a malformed variable CUBEJS_CUBEJS_X — or keyByDataSource being handed a non-CUBEJS_ name that still contains an extra 'CUBEJS_' substring.

Common situations: Developers manually setting both generic and DS-prefixed env vars and passing the prefixed one into helpers; typos producing CUBEJS_CUBEJS_...; calling internal keyByDataSource directly with an already-converted key; custom driver code re-invoking keyByDataSource on output of a previous call.

Related errors

• Value "${value}" is not valid for CUBEJS_MAX_REQUEST_SIZE. M
• The ${keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DB_SSL', dataSource)} must be
• The ${keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DB_SSL_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED', d
• The ${keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DB_USE_SELECT_TEST_CONNECTION'
• The ${keyByDataSource('CUBEJS_DB_NAME', dataSource)} is requ

AI-assisted analysis of cube-js/cube@7d981676b3 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2c6e6f533bdd3936. Report an issue: GitHub.