facebook/flow · error · Error

updatePendingStatements: Variable for dependency "${dep}" no

Error message

updatePendingStatements: Variable for dependency "${dep}" not found

What it means

Internal invariant in flowToFlowDef (flow-api-translator). While ordering top-level output statements it walks each translated statement's dependencies and looks each name up in context.variableMap. If a dependency identifier has no Variable record, translation state is inconsistent and it throws, naming the dependency.

Source

Thrown at packages/flow-api-translator/src/flowToFlowDef.js:191

  function storeTranslatedStatement(
    stmt: DetachedNode<ProgramStatement>,
    orgStmt: ProgramStatement,
  ): void {
    translatedStatements.set(orgStmt, stmt);
  }

  const seenDeps = new Set<Dep>();
  const processedStatements = new Set<ProgramStatement>();
  const pendingStatements = new Set<ProgramStatement>();
  function updatePendingStatements(deps: TranslatedDeps): void {
    for (const dep of deps) {
      if (seenDeps.has(dep)) {
        continue;
      }
      seenDeps.add(dep);
      const variable = context.variableMap.get(dep);
      if (variable == null) {
        throw new Error(
          `updatePendingStatements: Variable for dependency "${dep}" not found`,
        );
      }
      for (const def of variable.defs) {
        const stmt = def.node;
        if (stmt == null) {
          throw new Error(
            `updatePendingStatements: Variable parent of "${dep}" not found`,
          );
        }
        const topLevelStmt = getTopLevelStatement(stmt, context);
        if (processedStatements.has(topLevelStmt)) {
          continue;
        }
        pendingStatements.add(topLevelStmt);
      }
    }
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to d1341dac89)

Solutions

1. Pass a complete Program AST (all statements of the file) — fragments leave referenced identifiers undeclared
2. Declare or import the identifier named in the message inside the input source so it resolves within the same program
3. Update flow-api-translator in case the lookup logic changed for your AST shape
4. Minimize the input and file an issue — this is a violated translator invariant

// Before translating, ensure every referenced identifier is declared
// within the same Program you pass in.
function collectDeclared(program: {body: any[]}): Set<string> {
  const declared = new Set<string>();
  for (const stmt of program.body) {
    switch (stmt.type) {
      case 'VariableDeclaration':
        for (const d of stmt.declarations) declared.add(d.id.name);
        break;
      case 'FunctionDeclaration':
      case 'ClassDeclaration':
      case 'TypeAlias':
      case 'InterfaceDeclaration':
        if (stmt.id) declared.add(stmt.id.name);
        break;
      case 'ImportDeclaration':
        for (const s of stmt.specifiers) declared.add(s.local.name);
        break;
    }
  }
  return declared;
}
// then: referencedNames ⊆ declared ∪ FLOW_GLOBALS before calling translate

try {
  const defs = translateFlowASTToFlowDef(program, context);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.includes('Variable for dependency')) {
    // undeclared/global identifier: log program.body statement types and move on
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Translating a Flow AST program where a statement references an identifier never registered in the translation context's variableMap — an undeclared/global identifier, a name imported or declared outside the supplied statements, a partial Program AST, or an AST missing scope/parent information.

Common situations: Feeding hand-built, cloned, or subtree ASTs into the translator instead of a full Program; identifiers that are Flow builtins or globals not declared in the input file; translator/parser version mismatch dropping scope info.

Related errors

• updatePendingStatements: Variable parent of "${dep}" not fou
• Unexpected function parameter ${param.type}
• Flow check failed!
• Flow version ${version} doesn't support 'flow lsp'. Please u
• Unsupported .flowconfig option `log.file`. The VS Code exten

AI-assisted analysis of facebook/flow@d1341dac89 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/66448b9d11101f5a. Report an issue: GitHub.