hashicorp/nomad · error

Scaling policy invalid: task group count must not be greater

Error message

Scaling policy invalid: task group count must not be greater than maximum count in scaling policy

What it means

TaskGroup validation rejects a job where the group's static `count` exceeds the `max` declared in its scaling policy, since the scheduler would then run allocations outside the policy's allowed range.

Source

Thrown at nomad/structs/structs.go:7626

	if tg.Scaling == nil {
		return nil
	}

	var mErr multierror.Error

	err := tg.Scaling.Validate()
	if err != nil {
		// prefix scaling policy errors
		if me, ok := err.(*multierror.Error); ok {
			for _, e := range me.Errors {
				mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors, fmt.Errorf("Scaling policy invalid: %s", e))
			}
		}
	}

	if tg.Scaling.Max < int64(tg.Count) {
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors,
			fmt.Errorf("Scaling policy invalid: task group count must not be greater than maximum count in scaling policy"))
	}

	if int64(tg.Count) < tg.Scaling.Min && !(j.IsMultiregion() && tg.Count == 0 && j.Region == "global") {
		mErr.Errors = append(mErr.Errors,
			fmt.Errorf("Scaling policy invalid: task group count must not be less than minimum count in scaling policy"))
	}

	return mErr.ErrorOrNil()
}

// Warnings returns a list of warnings that may be from dubious settings or
// deprecation warnings.
func (tg *TaskGroup) Warnings(j *Job) error {
	var mErr multierror.Error

	// Validate the update strategy
	if u := tg.Update; u != nil {
		// Check the counts are appropriate

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Lower the group `count` to be <= scaling max
2. Raise `max` in the scaling block to at least the desired count
3. Remove the static count and let the scaling policy govern instances

Example fix

// before
count = 5
scaling { min = 1 max = 3 }
// after
count = 3
scaling { min = 1 max = 3 }

if g.Scaling != nil && int64(g.Count) > g.Scaling.Max {
  return fmt.Errorf("count %d exceeds scaling.max %d", g.Count, g.Scaling.Max)
}

func countWithinMax(g *api.TaskGroup) bool {
  return g.Scaling == nil || int64(g.Count) <= g.Scaling.Max
}

When it happens

Trigger: Submitting a job with `count = N` in the task group while the `scaling` block has `max < N` (e.g. count=5, scaling max=3).

Common situations: Manually raising `count` (or via `nomad job scale` interplay) after adding a scaling policy; copy-pasting a scaling block from another group with a lower max.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• Task group scaling policy validation failed: %v
• Scaling policy invalid: %s
• Scaling policy invalid: task group count must not be less th
• ErrConnectRequireOneNetwork
• ErrConnectInvalidNetworkMode

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c55825fa6325cdf1. Report an issue: GitHub.