dbt-labs/dbt-core · error

invalid cli error code

Error message

invalid cli error code: {frontend_code}

What it means

When converting a frontend ErrorCode into the CLI ErrorCode space via `From`, the numeric value is mapped through `try_from` and the result is unwrapped with `expect`. This panic fires when the frontend code's discriminant (below `NotSupported`) has no corresponding CLI error code defined. It is an internal invariant failure: the two enums in dbt-frontend-common and dbt-error are out of sync.

Solutions

1. Add the missing u16 mapping for the frontend code in the `TryFrom<u16>` impl for ErrorCode in crates/dbt-error/src/codes.rs
2. Confirm the frontend variant's discriminant is below `NotSupported`; if it is an internal error it should take the +9000 branch instead
3. Regenerate or resync the error-code tables from the shared definition so dbt-frontend-common and dbt-error agree
4. As a temporary measure, replace `expect` with a fallback mapping to a generic/internal CLI error code to avoid panicking in production

Example fix

// before
Self::try_from(frontend_code).expect("invalid cli error code: {frontend_code}")
// after
Self::try_from(frontend_code)
    .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
        tracing::error!(code = frontend_code, "unmapped frontend error code");
        Self::Internal
    })

fn is_valid_cli_code(frontend_code: u16) -> bool {
    ErrorCode::try_from(frontend_code).is_ok()
}
// assert every dbt_frontend_common::ErrorCode variant maps before calling From
assert!(is_valid_cli_code(code as u16));

When it happens

Trigger: A new variant is added to `dbt_frontend_common::error::ErrorCode` with a discriminant smaller than `NotSupported`, but the matching `u16 -> ErrorCode` TryFrom table in dbt-error's codes.rs is not updated. Any code then converts that frontend error via `ErrorCode::from(frontend_code)`.

Common situations: Cross-crate enum drift after a frontend error-code refactor; cherry-picking a change that adds a frontend variant into a branch whose CLI code table is older; hand-edited discriminant values in the frontend enum.

Understand the failure class

Background: "This is a bug, please report it": internal invariant violations, unreachable panics, and SNH errors explained — this error's family across 47 libraries.

Related errors

• failed to generate unique thread ID: bitspace exhausted
• inconsistent park_timeout state
• inconsistent state in unpark
• jsonify_nested_columns: rewritten schema and columns are…
• string prefix checked

AI-assisted analysis of dbt-labs/dbt-core@0267ce9170 (2026-09-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/73943746ca925484. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/dbt-error/src/codes.rs:404

            ErrorCode::DbConnectionFailed
                | ErrorCode::DbAuthFailed
                | ErrorCode::DbSyntaxInvalid
                | ErrorCode::DbResourceExceeded
                | ErrorCode::DbUnavailable
                | ErrorCode::DbTxnConflict
                | ErrorCode::DbNotFound
                | ErrorCode::DbUnsupportedFeature
                | ErrorCode::DbDriverFailed
                | ErrorCode::ExecutorFailed
        )
    }
}

impl From<dbt_frontend_common::error::ErrorCode> for ErrorCode {
    fn from(code: dbt_frontend_common::error::ErrorCode) -> Self {
        let frontend_code = code as u16;
        if frontend_code < dbt_frontend_common::error::ErrorCode::NotSupported as u16 {
            Self::try_from(frontend_code).expect("invalid cli error code: {frontend_code}")
        } else {
            // Internal errors map to the 9k range:
            Self::try_from(frontend_code + 9000).expect("invalid cli error code: {frontend_code}")
        }
    }
}
/// General warning handling. Warnings are controlled via -w from the CLI.
///
/// Warnings can be set and unset. They are usually passed as part of EvalArg.
///
/// A warning is active if its key in the Warnings hashmap is defined.
/// The value of the key can be used to provide additional info, for instance
/// for the warning capitalization_identifier:upper, use the error code for
/// capitalization_identifier as key and the string "upper" as value.
#[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
pub struct Warnings {
    // todo: better representation, but good enough for now...
    pub values: HashMap<ErrorCode, String>,

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