hashicorp/nomad · error

No LTarget provided but is required

Error message

No LTarget provided but is required

What it means

Affinity.Validate() requires an LTarget — the left-hand attribute/expression the affinity is evaluated against (e.g. "${node.datacenter}" or "attr.meta.foo"). If a.LTarget is empty, Nomad rejects the affinity with 'No LTarget provided but is required'.

Source

Thrown at nomad/structs/structs.go:10228

	case ConstraintVersion:
		if _, err := version.NewConstraint(a.RTarget); err != nil {
			mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Version affinity is invalid: %v", err))
		}
	case ConstraintSemver:
		if _, err := semver.NewConstraint(a.RTarget); err != nil {
			mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Semver affinity is invalid: %v", err))
		}
	case "=", "==", "is", "!=", "not", "<", "<=", ">", ">=":
		if a.RTarget == "" {
			mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Operator %q requires an RTarget", a.Operand))
		}
	default:
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Unknown affinity operator %q", a.Operand))
	}

	// Ensure we have an LTarget
	if a.LTarget == "" {
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("No LTarget provided but is required"))
	}

	// Ensure that weight is between -100 and 100, and not zero
	if a.Weight == 0 {
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Affinity weight cannot be zero"))
	}

	if a.Weight > 100 || a.Weight < -100 {
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Affinity weight must be within the range [-100,100]"))
	}

	return mErr.ErrorOrNil()
}

// DiffID fulfills the DiffableWithID interface.
func (a *Affinity) DiffID() string {
	return a.String()
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Set the attribute field on the affinity, e.g. attribute = "${node.datacenter}".
2. Remove the affinity block entirely if it is not needed.
3. In generated jobs, skip emitting affinity blocks whose attribute is empty.

Example fix

// before
affinity {
  operator = "is"
  value    = "dc1"
}
// after
affinity {
  attribute = "${node.datacenter}"
  operator  = "is"
  value    = "dc1"
}

if a.LTarget == "" { return errors.New("affinity requires attribute (LTarget)") }

When it happens

Trigger: An affinity block or API payload with no attribute (LTarget) set while other fields (operator/weight) are present; occurs at job registration via nomad job run or POST /v1/jobs.

Common situations: HCL templates where the attribute variable failed to render, hand-edited jobs where attribute was deleted, or SDK/programmatic job construction omitting LTarget.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Semver affinity is invalid: %v
• Unknown affinity operator %q
• Affinity weight cannot be zero
• Affinity weight must be within the range [-100,100]
• Disconnect cannot be configured with both lost_after and sto

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4b54c4e3d36f82b5. Report an issue: GitHub.