What causes "no database name" in golang-migrate/migrate?

Include the database file path in the URL: sqlite3://path/to/db.sqlite3

no database name

Error message

no database name

What it means

ErrNoDatabaseName in the sqlite3 migrate driver is returned by WithInstance, Open, or WithConnection when the resolved database name is empty. For sqlite3 this corresponds to the database file path (purl.Path) being blank, so migrations cannot be recorded.

Source

Thrown at database/sqlite3/sqlite3.go:26

	nurl "net/url"
	"strconv"
	"strings"
	"sync/atomic"

	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4"
	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4/database"
	_ "github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3"
)

func init() {
	database.Register("sqlite3", &Sqlite{})
}

var DefaultMigrationsTable = "schema_migrations"
var (
	ErrDatabaseDirty  = fmt.Errorf("database is dirty")
	ErrNilConfig      = fmt.Errorf("no config")
	ErrNoDatabaseName = fmt.Errorf("no database name")
)

type Config struct {
	MigrationsTable string
	DatabaseName    string
	NoTxWrap        bool
}

type Sqlite struct {
	db       *sql.DB
	isLocked atomic.Bool

	config *Config
}

func WithInstance(instance *sql.DB, config *Config) (database.Driver, error) {
	if config == nil {
		return nil, ErrNilConfig

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a9643f14)

Solutions

Include the database file path in the URL: sqlite3://path/to/db.sqlite3
Set config.DatabaseName when calling WithInstance/WithConnection
Verify the env/flag that supplies the path is populated before opening

Example fix

// before
d, err := migrate.Open("sqlite3://")
// after
d, err := migrate.Open("sqlite3://data/app.db")

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if dbPath == "" {
    return errors.New("sqlite3 URL must include the database file path")
}
d, err := migrate.Open("sqlite3://" + dbPath)

Type guard

func hasDatabaseName(path string) bool { return strings.TrimSpace(path) != "" }

Prevention

Validate the URL/path from env vars before calling Open
Use os.Stat on the sqlite file when you expect an existing DB
Log the fully assembled URL (redacting credentials) in startup diagnostics

When it happens

Trigger: Open-ing a URL like 'sqlite3://' or 'sqlite3://?x-no-tx-wrap=true' with no path, or WithInstance where config.DatabaseName was not set.

Common situations: Building the connection URL from env vars that are empty or unset; URL parsing dropping the path; forgetting the file name when switching from a DSN string to a parsed URL.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of golang-migrate/migrate@01a9643f14 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6350670a0eb2ec2d. Report an issue: GitHub.