hasura/graphql-engine · error

error determining database kind for '%s', check if database

Error message

error determining database kind for '%s', check if database exists on hasura

What it means

During `hasura migrate apply` validation, metadata was exported successfully but the source named o.Source.Name was absent, so its kind is unknown. Unlike error 104 this message does not wrap errDatabaseNotFound — it cannot be matched with errors.Is on the sentinel.

Source

Thrown at cli/commands/migrate_apply.go:223

			if len(o.Source.Kind) == 0 {
				// find out the database kind by making a API call to server
				// and update ec to include the database name and kind
				sourceKind, err := metadatautil.GetSourceKind(
					o.EC.APIClient.V1Metadata.ExportMetadata,
					o.Source.Name,
				)
				if err != nil {
					return herrors.E(
						op,
						fmt.Errorf("determining database kind of '%s': %w", o.Source.Name, err),
					)
				}

				if sourceKind == nil {
					return herrors.E(
						op,
						fmt.Errorf(
							"error determining database kind for '%s', check if database exists on hasura",
							o.Source.Name,
						),
					)
				}

				o.Source.Kind = *sourceKind
			}
		}
	}

	return nil
}

type errDatabaseMigrationDirectoryNotFound struct {
	message string
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. `hasura metadata export` and verify the source name exists exactly as passed
2. Add the database (`hasura database add X`) or fix the --database-name spelling
3. Delete the orphaned migrations/<name> directory if the database was intentionally removed

hasura metadata export -o m.json && jq -e --arg n "$DB" '.metadata.sources[].name == $n' m.json

When it happens

Trigger: `hasura migrate apply --database-name X` where X is not present in the server's exported metadata sources list.

Common situations: Stale migrations directory for a removed database; typo or case mismatch in the database name; applying to the wrong environment.

Related errors

• %w: error determining database kind for '%s', check if datab
• error fetching config from server: %w
• error fetching server config: %v
• cannot get absolute path: %w
• error while creating http client with TLS configuration %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e747b9a9e0de9c40. Report an issue: GitHub.