golang-migrate/migrate · error

no database name

Error message

no database name

What it means

The yugabytedb driver returns ErrNoDatabaseName ('no database name') when the provided config has an empty DatabaseName. The driver needs to know which YSQL database to connect to in order to create/check the migrations table. It is a public sentinel comparable with errors.Is.

Source

Thrown at database/yugabytedb/yugabytedb.go:32

	"github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4"
	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4"
	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4/database"
	"github.com/jackc/pgconn"
	"github.com/jackc/pgerrcode"
	"github.com/lib/pq"
)

const (
	DefaultMaxRetryInterval    = time.Second * 15
	DefaultMaxRetryElapsedTime = time.Second * 30
	DefaultMaxRetries          = 10
	DefaultMigrationsTable     = "migrations"
	DefaultLockTable           = "migrations_locks"
)

var (
	ErrNilConfig          = errors.New("no config")
	ErrNoDatabaseName     = errors.New("no database name")
	ErrMaxRetriesExceeded = errors.New("max retries exceeded")
)

func init() {
	db := YugabyteDB{}
	database.Register("yugabyte", &db)
	database.Register("yugabytedb", &db)
	database.Register("ysql", &db)
}

type Config struct {
	MigrationsTable     string
	LockTable           string
	ForceLock           bool
	DatabaseName        string
	MaxRetryInterval    time.Duration
	MaxRetryElapsedTime time.Duration
	MaxRetries          int

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a9643f14)

Solutions

1. Set cfg.DatabaseName (or include the database in the Open URL, e.g. yugabytedb://host/dbname) before creating the driver.
2. Validate the config before the call: if cfg.DatabaseName == "" return a clear error early.
3. Check env/flag plumbing that supplies the database name (env var may be unset).
4. Compare errors.Is(err, yugabytedb.ErrNoDatabaseName) to pinpoint the missing field.
5. If passing to WithInstance after parsing a URL, use the same name used to open the sql.DB connection.

Example fix

// before
cfg := &yugabytedb.Config{}
m, err := yugabytedb.WithInstance(session, cfg)
// after
cfg := &yugabytedb.Config{DatabaseName: os.Getenv("YUGABYTE_DB")}
if cfg.DatabaseName == "" {
	return nil, errors.New("YUGABYTE_DB must be set")
}
m, err := yugabytedb.WithInstance(session, cfg)

if cfg == nil || cfg.DatabaseName == "" {
	return nil, errors.New("yugabytedb: database name is required")
}
driver, err := yugabytedb.WithInstance(session, cfg)

func hasDatabaseName(cfg *yugabytedb.Config) bool {
	return cfg != nil && len(cfg.DatabaseName) > 0
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling WithInstance/WithConnection/Open with a Config whose DatabaseName is ""; Open with a URL that lacks a database name component; WithInstance after detecting len(config.DatabaseName) == 0.

Common situations: Forgetting to set DatabaseName when constructing Config manually; parsing a connection URL that omits the database path; env-var-driven config where the DB_NAME variable is unset or empty after trimming.

Related errors

• no config
• max retries exceeded
• digits must be positive
• the seq and format options are mutually exclusive
• time format may not be empty

AI-assisted analysis of golang-migrate/migrate@01a9643f14 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47e7b88ad4e4c8da. Report an issue: GitHub.