the datadog output was deprecated in k6 v0.32.0 and removed

Error message

the datadog output was deprecated in k6 v0.32.0 and removed in k6 v0.34.0, please use the statsd output extension https://github.com/LeonAdato/xk6-output-statsd with environment variable K6_STATSD_ENABLE_TAGS=true or an experimental opentelemetry output instead

What it means

Thrown when the CLI resolves the built-in 'datadog' output type. The Datadog output was deprecated in k6 v0.32.0 and its implementation removed in v0.34.0; the output registry in internal/cmd/outputs.go now maps builtinOutputDatadog to a constructor that unconditionally returns this error.

Source

Thrown at internal/cmd/outputs.go:63

func getAllOutputConstructors() (map[string]output.Constructor, error) {
	// Start with the built-in outputs
	result := map[string]output.Constructor{
		builtinOutputJSON.String():     json.New,
		builtinOutputCloud.String():    cloud.New,
		builtinOutputCSV.String():      csv.New,
		builtinOutputInfluxdb.String(): influxdb.New,
		builtinOutputKafka.String(): func(_ output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			return nil, errors.New("the kafka output was deprecated in k6 v0.32.0 and removed in k6 v0.34.0, " +
				"please use the new xk6 kafka output extension instead - https://github.com/k6io/xk6-output-kafka")
		},
		builtinOutputStatsd.String(): func(_ output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			return nil, errors.New("the statsd output was deprecated in k6 v0.47.0 and removed in k6 v0.55.0, " +
				"please use the new xk6 statsd output extension instead. " +
				"It can be found at https://github.com/LeonAdato/xk6-output-statsd and " +
				"more info at https://github.com/grafana/k6/issues/2982")
		},
		builtinOutputDatadog.String(): func(_ output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			return nil, errors.New("the datadog output was deprecated in k6 v0.32.0 and removed in k6 v0.34.0, " +
				"please use the statsd output extension https://github.com/LeonAdato/xk6-output-statsd with environment " +
				"variable K6_STATSD_ENABLE_TAGS=true or an experimental opentelemetry output instead",
			)
		},
		builtinOutputExperimentalPrometheusRW.String(): func(params output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			return remotewrite.New(params)
		},
		"web-dashboard": dashboard.New,
		builtinOutputExperimentalOpentelemetry.String(): func(params output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			params.Logger.Warnf("OpenTelemetry output has been graduated as a stable output."+
				"You can now use just %q instead of %q. The experimental version will be removed in future versions.",

				"opentelemetry", "experimental-opentelemetry")
			return opentelemetry.New(params)
		},
		builtinOutputOpentelemetry.String(): func(params output.Params) (output.Output, error) {
			return opentelemetry.New(params)
		},

View on GitHub (pinned to 93accf6570)

Solutions

Build k6 with the statsd extension (`xk6 build --with github.com/LeonAdato/xk6-output-statsd`) and run with `--out statsd` plus K6_STATSD_ENABLE_TAGS=true so Datadog tags are forwarded
Or use the OpenTelemetry output (`--out opentelemetry`, formerly experimental) behind an OTel collector that exports to Datadog
Remove `--out datadog` / K6_OUT=datadog from scripts, CI env, and stored configs

Example fix

# before
k6 run --out datadog script.js

# after
xk6 build --with github.com/LeonAdato/xk6-output-statsd
K6_STATSD_ENABLE_TAGS=true ./k6 run --out statsd script.js

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

# pre-flight: fail fast on removed output names before wasting a run
if grep -qE '(^|, )(datadog|statsd|kafka)(,|$)' <<< "$K6_OUT" || echo "$@" | grep -qE '--out (datadog|statsd|kafka)'; then
  echo "ERROR: datadog/statsd/kafka builtin outputs were removed in k6 v0.34.0/v0.55.0; use xk6 extensions" >&2
  exit 1
fi

Prevention

Pin and document the k6 version in CI so removed outputs fail predictably
Grep pipelines and stored configs for `--out datadog|statsd|kafka` after every k6 upgrade
Build the binary with the extensions you need via xk6 and record it in a Dockerfile

When it happens

Trigger: Running `k6 run --out datadog script.js`, or setting K6_OUT=datadog / listing 'datadog' in the outputs config, on any k6 >= v0.34.0.

Common situations: CI pipelines, wrapper scripts, or archived configs written for k6 <= v0.33 still passing --out datadog after a k6 upgrade; docs/blog examples that predate the removal.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of grafana/k6@93accf6570 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c79a2cc0762c495b. Report an issue: GitHub.