go-redis/redis · critical

redis: NewSentinelClient nil options

Error message

redis: NewSentinelClient nil options

What it means

NewSentinelClient panics when called with a nil *Options pointer. The constructor dereferences opt (opt.init()) immediately after this check, so the guard exists to fail loudly rather than produce a nil-pointer dereference deeper in setup. This is a programmer error, not a runtime/network condition.

Source

Thrown at sentinel.go:691

		if failover.opt.TLSConfig == nil {
			return netDialer.DialContext(ctx, network, addr)
		}
		return tls.DialWithDialer(netDialer, network, addr, failover.opt.TLSConfig)
	}
}

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

// SentinelClient is a client for a Redis Sentinel.
type SentinelClient struct {
	*baseClient
}

// NewSentinelClient returns a Redis Sentinel client.
// Passing nil Options will cause a panic.
func NewSentinelClient(opt *Options) *SentinelClient {
	if opt == nil {
		panic("redis: NewSentinelClient nil options")
	}
	opt.init()
	c := &SentinelClient{
		baseClient: &baseClient{
			apClosed: &atomic.Bool{},
			opt:      opt,
			onClose:  &onCloseHooks{},
		},
	}

	// Initialize push notification processor using shared helper
	// Use void processor for Sentinel clients
	c.pushProcessor = NewVoidPushNotificationProcessor()

	c.initHooks(hooks{
		dial:    c.baseClient.dial,
		process: c.baseClient.process,
	})

View on GitHub (pinned to 36d97525cd)

Solutions

1. Ensure the *redis.Options argument is non-nil before calling NewSentinelClient; construct it with &redis.Options{Addr: ...}.
2. If options come from a loader, abort early on the loader error instead of propagating a nil pointer.
3. Add a nil check at the call site and return a descriptive error to the caller.

Example fix

// before
var opt *redis.Options
c := redis.NewSentinelClient(opt)

// after
c := redis.NewSentinelClient(&redis.Options{Addr: ":26379"})

func buildSentinelClient(opt *redis.Options) (*redis.SentinelClient, error) {
    if opt == nil {
        return nil, errors.New("redis.Options must not be nil")
    }
    return redis.NewSentinelClient(opt), nil
}

func isNonNilOptions(opt *redis.Options) bool { return opt != nil }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling redis.NewSentinelClient(nil) directly, or passing an uninitialised *redis.Options variable that was never assigned (e.g. var opt *redis.Options; NewSentinelClient(opt)).

Common situations: Conditional configuration where the options struct is built in a branch that did not execute, a helper that returns *redis.Options returning nil on a config-load failure, or refactoring that accidentally drops the options argument.

Related errors

• redis: NewFailoverClusterClient nil options
• redis: NewClusterClient nil options
• redis: no sentinels configured
• redis: all sentinels specified in configuration are unreacha
• redis: NewClient nil options

AI-assisted analysis of go-redis/redis@36d97525cd (2026-08-06). Data as JSON: /data/errors/0469be227cdc306b.json. Report an issue: GitHub.