dapr/dapr · error

input key/keyPrefix '%s' can't contain '%s'

Error message

input key/keyPrefix '%s' can't contain '%s'

What it means

checkKeyIllegal in the lock building block rejects lock keys, keyPrefix metadata, and keyPrefixStrategy values that contain the Dapr key separator '||' (pkg/components/lock/lock_config.go:18). The lock store composes final store keys as prefix + '||' + lock name, so an embedded '||' would make stored keys ambiguous, and input is rejected before reaching the backend.

Source

Thrown at pkg/components/lock/lock_config.go:101

	// Acquire a write lock now to update the value in cache
	locksConfigurationMu.Lock()
	defer locksConfigurationMu.Unlock()

	// Try checking the cache again after acquiring a write lock, in case another goroutine has created the object
	c = lockConfiguration[storeName]
	if c != nil {
		return c
	}

	c = &StoreConfiguration{keyPrefixStrategy: strategyDefault}
	lockConfiguration[storeName] = c

	return c
}

func checkKeyIllegal(key string) error {
	if strings.Contains(key, separator) {
		return fmt.Errorf("input key/keyPrefix '%s' can't contain '%s'", key, separator)
	}
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 74ad417027)

Solutions

1. Replace '||' in the lock name with '-', '_', or another delimiter.
2. If the offending value is the keyPrefix or keyPrefixStrategy metadata in the component YAML, edit it and re-apply/restart.
3. Sanitize composite keys at the application boundary (strip or encode '||') before calling the lock API.

Example fix

# before (lock component metadata)
- name: keyPrefix
  value: "orders||prod"

# after
- name: keyPrefix
  value: "orders-prod"

const lockSeparator = "||" // pkg/components/lock/lock_config.go:18

func validLockKey(key string) bool { return !strings.Contains(key, lockSeparator) }

// use before TryLock/UnLock and before setting keyPrefix metadata:
if !validLockKey(lockName) || !validLockKey(keyPrefix) {
	return errors.New("lock name/prefix must not contain '||'")
}

resp, err := lockClient.TryLock(ctx, &lock.TryLockRequest{StoreName: store, ResourceID: resID})
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "can't contain") {
		// reject the caller's identifier early, do not retry
		return http.Error(w, "lock name contains illegal separator '||'", http.StatusBadRequest)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling TryLock/UnLock with a lock name containing '||' (e.g. 'order||123'), or configuring the lock component's keyPrefix/keyPrefixStrategy metadata with '||' (e.g. 'my||app').

Common situations: Using '||' as a visual delimiter in prefixes; passing composite application identifiers that happen to embed the separator; migrating keys from another system that permitted '||'.

Related errors

• input key/keyPrefix '%s' can't contain '%s'
• invalid header key{trimmedName}
• app id is empty
• field Message is nil
• value for the dapr.io/app-id annotation is empty

AI-assisted analysis of dapr/dapr@74ad417027 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e6dc2f90be1ee4d2. Report an issue: GitHub.