elsa-workflows/elsa-core · critical · InvalidOperationException

Connection string not configured for

Error message

Connection string not configured for {featureName}. Either configure the feature directly or provide shared settings via the combined persistence feature.

What it means

PersistenceShellFeatureBase resolves the connection string at feature configuration time as: feature-specific connection string, then SharedPersistenceSettings.ConnectionString, else it throws. This guards against a DbContext being registered with no way to connect. The message names the concrete feature type so you know which feature lacked configuration.

Solutions

1. Configure the shared connection string once via the combined EF Core persistence feature (SharedPersistenceSettings.ConnectionString).
2. Or configure the individual feature directly: feature.ConfigureFeature(new EfCorePersistenceFeatureOptions { ConnectionString = ... }).
3. Pull the value from configuration/environment and assert it's non-empty at startup before building the host.
4. If the connection string is environment-specific, ensure appsettings.json/environment variables are loaded in the failing environment.

Example fix

// before
services.AddElsa(elsa => elsa.UseEntityFrameworkCore(ef => ef.UseSqlite()));
// after
services.AddElsa(elsa => elsa.UseEntityFrameworkCore(ef => ef.UseSqlite("Data Source=elsa.db")));

var settings = sp.GetService<IOptions<SharedPersistenceSettings>>()?.Value;
var cs = featureConnectionString ?? settings?.ConnectionString;
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(cs))
    throw new InvalidOperationException(
        "No connection string configured for EF Core persistence. Set the feature options or SharedPersistenceSettings.ConnectionString.");

bool HasPersistenceConnectionString(string? featureCs, SharedPersistenceSettings? shared) =>
    !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(featureCs) || !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(shared?.ConnectionString);

When it happens

Trigger: Registering an EF Core persistence feature (e.g. Runflows/Management/Runtime EF Core persistence features) without calling its ConfigureFeature with a connection string, and without setting ElsaOptions/SharedPersistenceSettings.ConnectionString via the combined persistence feature.

Common situations: Migrating from SQLite/other modules to EF Core persistence and forgetting connection strings; only some features configured directly while the combined shared persistence feature is absent; reading the connection string from environment/config that is empty in a given environment (CI, container); calling Add EF persistence features in the wrong order so shared settings aren't registered.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is required", "must be set", "missing required field": configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 36 libraries.

Related errors

• Provider ' ' is not supported.
• 23505
• Unable to save data
• Register with configured before calling , or call with a…
• The console log provider registration is invalid.

AI-assisted analysis of elsa-workflows/elsa-core@fe9217bdfa (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f0c27dd5ee83bd20. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/modules/Elsa.Persistence.EFCore.Common/PersistenceShellFeatureBase.cs:67

    protected virtual Action<IServiceProvider, DbContextOptionsBuilder> DbContextOptionsBuilder { get; set; } = (_, _) => { };
    
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        // Capture feature-specific settings
        var featureConnectionString = ConnectionString;
        var featureDbContextOptions = DbContextOptions;
        var featureUseContextPooling = UseContextPooling;
        var featureRunMigrations = RunMigrations;
        var featureDbContextFactoryLifetime = DbContextFactoryLifetime;

        // Resolve effective settings at runtime, falling back to shared settings
        Action<IServiceProvider, DbContextOptionsBuilder> setup = (sp, opts) =>
        {
            var sharedSettings = sp.GetService<IOptions<SharedPersistenceSettings>>()?.Value;
            
            var connectionString = featureConnectionString 
                ?? sharedSettings?.ConnectionString
                ?? throw new InvalidOperationException(
                    $"Connection string not configured for {GetType().Name}. " +
                    $"Either configure the feature directly or provide shared settings via the combined persistence feature.");
            
            var dbContextOptions = featureDbContextOptions ?? sharedSettings?.DbContextOptions;

            opts.ConfigureWarnings(w => w.Ignore(RelationalEventId.PendingModelChangesWarning));

            // Configure the database provider
            var migrationsAssembly = GetMigrationsAssembly();
            ConfigureProvider(opts, migrationsAssembly, connectionString, dbContextOptions);

            // Allow derived classes to further configure
            DbContextOptionsBuilder(sp, opts);
        };

        // Resolve pooling and lifetime settings with fallback
        // Note: These are resolved at configuration time, not runtime, but they'll use defaults if not set
        var useContextPooling = featureUseContextPooling ?? false;

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