cube-js/cube · error

wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}'

Error message

wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}' value: greater then max size {}

What it means

env_parse_duration parses a duration-valued environment variable (e.g. with env_parse_duration("SOME_TIMEOUT", "60s", Some(min), Some(max))). If the parsed duration exceeds the caller-provided maximum, CubeSQL panics at startup with this message. It is a deliberate fail-fast guard against nonsensical configuration values.

Source

Thrown at rust/cubesql/cubesql/src/config/mod.rs:483

{
    let v = match env::var(name).ok() {
        None => {
            return default;
        }
        Some(v) => v,
    };

    let n = match v.parse::<T>() {
        Ok(n) => n,
        Err(e) => panic!(
            "could not parse environment variable '{}' with '{}' value: {}",
            name, v, e
        ),
    };

    if let Some(max) = max {
        if n > max {
            panic!(
                "wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}' value: greater then max size {}",
                name, v,
                max
            )
        }
    };

    if let Some(min) = min {
        if n < min {
            panic!(
                "wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}' value: lower then min size {}",
                name, v,
                min
            )
        }
    };

    n

View on GitHub (pinned to 7d981676b3)

Solutions

1. Lower the value of the environment variable so it is within the allowed maximum
2. Check the call site of env_parse_duration for the variable to learn the exact max bound
3. Use a unit suffix correctly (s/m/h) so the value does not unintentionally inflate

Example fix

// before
CUBESQL_META_TRANSPORT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=99999999s
// after
CUBESQL_META_TRANSPORT_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=300s

fn validate_duration_env(name: &str, max_secs: i64) -> Result<(), String> {
    match std::env::var(name) {
        Ok(v) => match env_parse_duration_str(&v) {
            Ok(n) if n <= max_secs => Ok(()),
            Ok(n) => Err(format!("{}={} exceeds max {}s", name, n, max_secs)),
            Err(e) => Err(format!("{} unparseable: {}", name, e)),
        },
        Err(_) => Ok(()),
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting a duration env variable consumed via env_parse_duration to a value larger than the configured max (e.g. a keep-alive or timeout variable set to '999999d' or a number of seconds above the allowed cap).

Common situations: Copy-pasting example configs with extreme values; a typo like 864000 instead of 86400 seconds; container orchestration templates injecting unbounded values.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a valid" / "Invalid ... value" environment variable errors: how libraries validate env vars and what to do when they reject yours — this error's family across 48 libraries.

Related errors

• wrong configuration for environment variable '{}' with '{}'
• Could not parse environment variable '{}' with '{}' value: {
• CUBESQL_CUBE_TOKEN is a required ENV variable
• CUBESQL_CUBE_URL is a required ENV variable
• Unrecognized log level: {}

AI-assisted analysis of cube-js/cube@7d981676b3 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/80911cc9d68148a8. Report an issue: GitHub.