etcd-io/etcd · error

unexpected serializable in delete

Error message

unexpected serializable in delete

What it means

OpDelete rejects WithSerializable. Serializable reads may be served by any member without quorum confirmation; deletes are writes and always go through the raft quorum, so a 'serializable delete' has no semantics. After applyOpts sets ret.serializable, the validation switch panics with "unexpected serializable in delete".

Source

Thrown at client/v3/op.go:285

// 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
}

// 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)

View on GitHub (pinned to f744d457f4)

Solutions

1. Remove WithSerializable from Delete calls — every write is linearizable by definition.
2. Apply WithSerializable only at Get call sites (typically with WithSerializable reads for stale-tolerant dashboards).

Example fix

// before
_, err := cli.Delete(ctx, cacheKey, clientv3.WithSerializable()) // panics

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

When it happens

Trigger: clientv3.OpDelete(k, clientv3.WithSerializable()); forwarding read-path options (built to lower read latency) into the matching invalidation Delete; config-driven option bundles applied uniformly to all ops.

Common situations: Read-your-writes caches that use WithSerializable on Get and reuse the same helper for eviction deletes; templates that append 'performance' options to every clientv3 call.

Related errors

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

AI-assisted analysis of etcd-io/etcd@f744d457f4 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b0caf4150cc991e. Report an issue: GitHub.