incorrect format for specifying Dgraph secret found for comm

Error message

incorrect format for specifying Dgraph secret found for comment: `%s`, it should be `# Dgraph.Secret key value`

What it means

parseMetaInfo reads `# Dgraph.Secret key value` comments from the GraphQL schema file. This error is thrown when a Dgraph.Secret comment line has fewer than 4 whitespace-separated fields (i.e. missing the key and/or value after `# Dgraph.Secret`), so the secret cannot be parsed.

Source

Thrown at graphql/schema/schemagen.go:243

				}
				var allowedOrigin string
				if err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(parts[2]), &allowedOrigin); err != nil {
					return nil, errors.Errorf("incorrect format for specifying Dgraph.Allow-Origin"+
						" found for comment: `%s`, it should be `# Dgraph."+
						"Allow-Origin \"http://example.com\"`", text)
				}
				schMetaInfo.allowedCorsOrigins[allowedOrigin] = true
				continue
			}

			if !strings.HasPrefix(header, "Dgraph.Secret") {
				continue
			}
			parts := strings.Fields(text)
			const doubleQuotesCode = 34

			if len(parts) < 4 {
				return nil, errors.Errorf("incorrect format for specifying Dgraph secret found for "+
					"comment: `%s`, it should be `# Dgraph.Secret key value`", text)
			}
			val := strings.Join(parts[3:], " ")
			if strings.Count(val, `"`) != 2 || val[0] != doubleQuotesCode || val[len(val)-1] != doubleQuotesCode {
				return nil, errors.Errorf("incorrect format for specifying Dgraph secret found for "+
					"comment: `%s`, it should be `# Dgraph.Secret key value`", text)
			}

			val = strings.Trim(val, `"`)
			key := strings.Trim(parts[2], `"`)
			// lets obfuscate the value of the secrets from here on.
			schMetaInfo.secrets[key] = x.Sensitive(val)
		}
	}

	if err = scanner.Err(); err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "while trying to parse secrets from schema file")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 759e242be6)

Solutions

Add both a key and a value to the comment: `# Dgraph.Secret myKey "myValue"`
Verify the comment starts with exactly `# Dgraph.Secret` followed by key then value
Quote the value in double quotes if it contains spaces

Example fix

// before
# Dgraph.Secret apiKey
// after
# Dgraph.Secret apiKey "my-secret-value"

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func validSecretComment(line string) bool {
	parts := strings.Fields(line)
	return len(parts) >= 4 && parts[1] == "Dgraph.Secret"
}
// validate each schema line before passing the schema to NewHandler

Prevention

Lint schema comments so every `# Dgraph.Secret` line has key and quoted value
Use a schema template with placeholders instead of editing comments by hand
Run schema creation in CI to catch malformed secret lines before deploy

When it happens

Trigger: Calling NewHandler with a schema containing a comment like `# Dgraph.Secret` or `# Dgraph.Secret apiKey` with no value — strings.Fields(text) yields fewer than 4 tokens.

Common situations: Hand-edited schema files where the secret value was deleted or never filled in; copy-paste of the directive comment without the actual key/value; templating that rendered an empty secret.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of dgraph-io/dgraph@759e242be6 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31ef06ac8650e1ae. Report an issue: GitHub.