dgraph-io/dgraph · error

Invalid argument: %s

Error message

Invalid argument: %s

What it means

Each argument on a query node must be one of the recognized keywords (first, offset, after, orderasc, orderby, filter, facets, cascade, etc.). treeCopy iterates gchild.Args and calls isValidArg; an unknown key means the query is malformed or uses syntax from another engine, so parsing is aborted with the offending argument name.

Source

Thrown at query/query.go:596

			args.Cascade.Fields = gchild.Cascade
		}

		// Remove pagination arguments from the query if @cascade is mentioned since
		// pagination will be applied post processing the data.
		if len(args.Cascade.Fields) > 0 {
			args.addCascadePaginationArguments(gchild)
		}

		if gchild.IsCount {
			if len(gchild.Children) != 0 {
				return errors.New("Node with count cannot have child attributes")
			}
			args.DoCount = true
		}

		for argk := range gchild.Args {
			if !isValidArg(argk) {
				return errors.Errorf("Invalid argument: %s", argk)
			}
		}
		if err := args.fill(gchild); err != nil {
			return err
		}

		if len(args.Order) != 0 && len(args.FacetsOrder) != 0 {
			return errors.Errorf("Cannot specify order at both args and facets")
		}

		dst := &SubGraph{
			Attr:   gchild.Attr,
			Params: args,
		}
		if gchild.MathExp != nil {
			mathExp := &mathTree{}
			if err := mathCopy(mathExp, gchild.MathExp); err != nil {
				return err

View on GitHub (pinned to 759e242be6)

Solutions

1. Fix the argument spelling to a supported one (first, offset, after, orderasc, orderdesc, orderby, filter, facets, groupby, recurse, cascade, depth, etc.)
2. Replace unsupported options with Dgraph equivalents: pagination is (first, offset) and (after, first)
3. Check the predicate is not being passed where an argument belongs; move values into func(...) or @filter instead

Example fix

// before
{
  me(func: type(Person), limit: 5) { uid }
}
// after
{
  me(func: type(Person), first: 5) { uid }
}

const VALID_ARGS = new Set(['first','offset','after','orderasc','orderdesc','orderby','filter','facets','groupby','cascade','recurse','depth','loop','numpaths','minweight','maxweight','numhops','maxfrontiersize','from','to','func','expand']);
for (const [k] of node.args) {
  if (!VALID_ARGS.has(k)) throw new Error(`Unknown Dgraph argument: ${k}`);
}

const isValidDgraphArg = (k) => VALID_ARGS.has(k);

try {
  await txn.query(q);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.startsWith('Invalid argument:')) {
    const bad = e.message.split('Invalid argument: ')[1];
    console.error(`Remove or correct argument "${bad}"`);
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Typo like `orderasc:` misspelled as `orderAsc` or `oderby`; passing an arbitrary option such as `limit: 5` (not a Dgraph arg); query builders injecting custom parameters into the query string.

Common situations: Hand-written queries with typos; porting GraphQL/SQL options (limit/skip) that Dgraph does not support by that name; old syntax removed in a Dgraph upgrade.

Related errors

• expand() not allowed inside shortest
• Node with count cannot have child attributes
• Node with %q cant have child attr
• NQuad failed sanity check. Subject: %q, Predicate: %q, Objec
• empty variable name in function call

AI-assisted analysis of dgraph-io/dgraph@759e242be6 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ad1f536514a1215d. Report an issue: GitHub.