What causes "max y cannot be less than min y" in elastic/elasticsearch?

Reorder the arguments so maxY is the larger latitude value: the signature is (minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ).

elastic/elasticsearch · error · IllegalArgumentException

max y cannot be less than min y

Error message

max y cannot be less than min y

What it means

Thrown by the 6-argument Rectangle constructor (minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ) when maxY is less than minY. The Rectangle class represents a bounding box whose vertical extents must be correctly ordered. Note the constructor assigns the fields BEFORE validating, so the partially-built object exists momentarily but the exception still propagates and prevents the caller from receiving a reference.

Source

Thrown at libs/geo/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/geometry/Rectangle.java:75

     * Constructs a bounding box by first validating the provided latitude and longitude coordinates
     */
    public Rectangle(double minX, double maxX, double maxY, double minY) {
        this(minX, maxX, maxY, minY, Double.NaN, Double.NaN);
    }

    /**
     * Constructs a bounding box by first validating the provided latitude and longitude coordinates
     */
    public Rectangle(double minX, double maxX, double maxY, double minY, double minZ, double maxZ) {
        this.minX = minX;
        this.maxX = maxX;
        this.minY = minY;
        this.maxY = maxY;
        this.minZ = minZ;
        this.maxZ = maxZ;
        empty = false;
        if (maxY < minY) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("max y cannot be less than min y");
        }
        if (Double.isNaN(minZ) != Double.isNaN(maxZ)) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("only one z value is specified");
        }
    }

    public double getMinY() {
        return minY;
    }

    public double getMinX() {
        return minX;
    }

    public double getMinZ() {
        return minZ;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)

Solutions

Reorder the arguments so maxY is the larger latitude value: the signature is (minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ).
If you cannot trust input ordering, normalize before constructing: `double lo = Math.min(a, b); double hi = Math.max(a, b); new Rectangle(minX, maxX, hi, lo, minZ, maxZ);`
If you genuinely need an inverted envelope (e.g. antimeridian crossing in y), Rectangle cannot represent it — use a different geometry or restructure the query.

Example fix

// before
new Rectangle(0, 10, -20, 20, Double.NaN, Double.NaN); // maxY(-20) < minY(20)

// after
new Rectangle(0, 10, 20, -20, Double.NaN, Double.NaN); // maxY(20) >= minY(-20)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

double minY = Math.min(y1, y2);
double maxY = Math.max(y1, y2);
if (maxY < minY) throw new IllegalArgumentException("y bounds inverted after normalize (unexpected)");
new Rectangle(minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ);

Prevention

Memorize the 6-arg Rectangle signature order: (minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ) — maxY comes before minY.
Always normalize min/max pairs with Math.min/Math.max before constructing a Rectangle.
Wrap Rectangle construction in a single helper that accepts unordered bounds and orders them internally.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `new Rectangle(minX, maxX, maxY, minY, minZ, maxZ)` where the third argument (maxY) is numerically smaller than the fourth argument (minY). The argument order (maxY before minY) is the most common culprit — callers passing values in min-then-max order will trip this check.

Common situations: Passing bounds in (minY, maxY) order to a constructor whose signature is (maxY, minY); deserializing user-supplied or external data whose y-ordinates are inverted; computing bounding boxes from point clouds where a comparison helper flipped its min/max arguments.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e11a6210e74ead42. Report an issue: GitHub.