etcd-io/etcd · error

unexpected revision in delete

Error message

unexpected revision in delete

What it means

OpDelete rejects WithRev(n). WithRev pins a range read to a historical revision (MVCC snapshot); deletes always operate on the latest state, so a revision-pinned delete is meaningless. applyOpts records ret.rev, and the post-condition switch panics with "unexpected revision in delete" when it is non-zero.

Source

Thrown at client/v3/op.go:281

	ret.applyOpts(opts)
	return ret
}

// OpDelete returns "delete" operation based on given key and operation options.
func OpDelete(key string, opts ...OpOption) Op {
	// WithPrefix and WithFromKey are not supported together
	if IsOptsWithPrefix(opts) && IsOptsWithFromKey(opts) {
		panic("`WithPrefix` and `WithFromKey` cannot be set at the same time, choose one")
	}
	ret := Op{t: tDeleteRange, key: []byte(key)}
	ret.applyOpts(opts)
	switch {
	case ret.leaseID != 0:
		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
}

View on GitHub (pinned to f744d457f4)

Solutions

1. Remove WithRev from Delete; if you need conditional deletion, use cli.Txn(...).If(clientv3.Compare(clientv3.CompareModified(k), "=", rev)).Then(clientv3.OpDelete(k)).
2. Never share option slices between the Get and the Delete of a read-modify-write cycle.

Example fix

// before
_, err := cli.Delete(ctx, k, clientv3.WithRev(seenRev)) // panics

// after — conditional delete on the observed revision
resp, err := cli.Txn(ctx).
    If(clientv3.Compare(clientv3.CompareModified(k), "=", seenRev)).
    Then(clientv3.OpDelete(k)).
    Commit()

When it happens

Trigger: clientv3.OpDelete(k, clientv3.WithRev(1234)); reusing an option slice that was built for a consistent historical Get; 'delete if it looked like X at revision R' attempts — that belongs to a Txn If-guard, not WithRev.

Common situations: Read-modify-delete flows where the Get used WithRev and the options object is reused; code imported from a watch-replay routine that pins revisions; conflating Txn If CompareModified with WithRev.

Related errors

• unexpected revision in put
• unexpected lease in delete
• unexpected limit 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/d5b886deda5a2591. Report an issue: GitHub.