hashicorp/nomad · error

failed variable lookup: %s

Error message

failed variable lookup: %s

What it means

During a variable CAS set, reading the existing variable by namespace/path from memdb failed; the wrapped First error prevents compare-and-swap evaluation and is returned as an error response.

Source

Thrown at nomad/state/state_store_variables.go:164

	resp := s.varSetCASTxn(tx, idx, sv)
	if resp.IsError() || resp.IsConflict() {
		return resp
	}

	if err := tx.Commit(); err != nil {
		return sv.ErrorResponse(idx, err)
	}
	return resp
}

// varSetCASTxn is the inner method used to do a CAS inside an existing
// transaction.
func (s *StateStore) varSetCASTxn(tx WriteTxn, idx uint64, req *structs.VarApplyStateRequest) *structs.VarApplyStateResponse {
	sv := req.Var
	raw, err := tx.First(TableVariables, indexID, sv.Namespace, sv.Path)
	if err != nil {
		return req.ErrorResponse(idx, fmt.Errorf("failed variable lookup: %s", err))
	}
	svEx, ok := raw.(*structs.VariableEncrypted)

	// ModifyIndex of 0 means that we are doing a set-if-not-exists.
	if sv.ModifyIndex == 0 && raw != nil {
		return req.ConflictResponse(idx, svEx)
	}

	// If the ModifyIndex is set but the variable doesn't exist, return a
	// plausible zero value as the conflict
	if sv.ModifyIndex != 0 && raw == nil {
		zeroVal := &structs.VariableEncrypted{
			VariableMetadata: structs.VariableMetadata{
				Namespace: sv.Namespace,
				Path:      sv.Path,
			},
		}
		return req.ConflictResponse(idx, zeroVal)

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Retry the variable write
2. Inspect server logs for state store read errors

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at nomad/state/state_store_variables.go:164 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/16b34ebe2532d8da. Report an issue: GitHub.