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

Set Config.DatabaseName or include the path in the URL (sqlite:///path/to/app.db) before constructing the driver.

no database name

Error message

no database name

What it means

ErrNoDatabaseName is a sentinel error returned by the sqlite driver's WithInstance, Open, and WithConnection when Config.DatabaseName (or the URL path) is empty. The driver requires a database name to manage migration state. It indicates the migration URL or config is incomplete.

Source

Thrown at database/sqlite/sqlite.go:26

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

	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4"
	"github.com/golang-migrate/migrate/v4/database"
	_ "modernc.org/sqlite"
)

func init() {
	database.Register("sqlite", &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

Set Config.DatabaseName or include the path in the URL (sqlite:///path/to/app.db) before constructing the driver.
Validate the database name is non-empty in your config loading and fail fast with a clear message.
Check the deployment environment actually provides the DB filename (env var/config value not empty).

Example fix

// before
cfg := &sqlite.Config{} // DatabaseName empty
d, err := sqlite.WithInstance(db, cfg) // ErrNoDatabaseName
// after
cfg := &sqlite.Config{
    DatabaseName: "data/app.db",
}
d, err := sqlite.WithInstance(db, cfg)

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if cfg == nil || strings.TrimSpace(cfg.DatabaseName) == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("sqlite requires a non-empty DatabaseName")
}
// or for URLs: ensure a path exists
u, _ := url.Parse(dsn)
if u.Path == "" { return fmt.Errorf("migration URL missing database path: %s", dsn) }

Type guard

func hasDatabaseName(cfg *sqlite.Config) bool {
    return cfg != nil && strings.TrimSpace(cfg.DatabaseName) != ""
}

Try / catch

if err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, sqlite.ErrNoDatabaseName) {
        return fmt.Errorf("check migration DSN/config: database name is required: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

Validate the DSN has a path component before handing it to migrate.
Fail at startup if the env var holding the DB filename is empty.
Keep DSN construction in one tested helper function.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling sqlite.Open("sqlite://") with no path, or WithInstance/WithConnection with a Config whose DatabaseName is "" — e.g. a programmatically built URL that lost its path component.

Common situations: DSN missing the file path after sqlite://; env var supplying the DB filename empty or unset; URL parsing/cleaning stripping the path; Config struct built without the DatabaseName field.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of golang-migrate/migrate@01a9643f14 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9746a5e5b8329891. Report an issue: GitHub.