etcd-io/etcd · error

unexpected createdNotify in delete

Error message

unexpected createdNotify in delete

What it means

OpDelete rejects WithCreatedNotify. createdNotify asks a watch to emit a synthetic event when the watch is established; it has no meaning for a delete operation. After applyOpts sets ret.createdNotify, the final validation case panics with "unexpected createdNotify in delete".

Source

Thrown at client/v3/op.go:295

		panic("unexpected lease in delete")
	case ret.limit != 0:
		panic("unexpected limit in delete")
	case ret.rev != 0:
		panic("unexpected revision in delete")
	case ret.sort != nil:
		panic("unexpected sort in delete")
	case ret.serializable:
		panic("unexpected serializable in delete")
	case ret.countOnly:
		panic("unexpected countOnly in delete")
	case ret.minModRev != 0, ret.maxModRev != 0:
		panic("unexpected mod revision filter in delete")
	case ret.minCreateRev != 0, ret.maxCreateRev != 0:
		panic("unexpected create revision filter in delete")
	case ret.filterDelete, ret.filterPut:
		panic("unexpected filter in delete")
	case ret.createdNotify:
		panic("unexpected createdNotify in delete")
	}
	return ret
}

// OpPut returns "put" operation based on given key-value and operation options.
func OpPut(key, val string, opts ...OpOption) Op {
	ret := Op{t: tPut, key: []byte(key), val: []byte(val)}
	ret.applyOpts(opts)
	switch {
	case ret.end != nil:
		panic("unexpected range in put")
	case ret.limit != 0:
		panic("unexpected limit in put")
	case ret.rev != 0:
		panic("unexpected revision in put")
	case ret.sort != nil:
		panic("unexpected sort in put")
	case ret.serializable:

View on GitHub (pinned to f744d457f4)

Solutions

1. Remove WithCreatedNotify from Delete calls; it is exclusively a Watch option.
2. Keep watch-construction options in a separate slice from mutation options.

Example fix

// before
_, err := cli.Delete(ctx, watchedKey, clientv3.WithCreatedNotify()) // panics

// after
_, err := cli.Delete(ctx, watchedKey)

When it happens

Trigger: clientv3.OpDelete(k, clientv3.WithCreatedNotify()); copy-pasting a Watch option list into the cleanup Delete of a watch-based component; generic option forwarding from watch setup into teardown.

Common situations: Watch lifecycle code: the same helper that builds watch options (WithCreatedNotify, WithProgressNotify, WithPrevKey) is reused for deleting the watched key on shutdown; config bundles applied to all clientv3 calls.

Related errors

• unexpected lease in delete
• unexpected limit in delete
• unexpected revision in delete
• unexpected sort in delete
• unexpected serializable in delete

AI-assisted analysis of etcd-io/etcd@f744d457f4 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2db6abaf59f37234. Report an issue: GitHub.