hasura/graphql-engine · error

error in getting codegen for action %s: %w

Error message

error in getting codegen for action %s: %w

What it means

Codegen called the actions codegen extension (GetActionsCodegen) and the extension itself returned an error — the CLI is only surfacing it with the action name. Root causes live in the extension: unsupported language/plugin, malformed SDL payload, or a crashed/missing plugin binary.

Source

Thrown at cli/internal/metadataobject/actions/actions.go:283

	}

	data := types.ActionsCodegenRequest{
		ActionName: name,
		SDL: types.SDLPayload{
			Complete: graphqlFileContent,
		},
		CodegenConfig: a.ActionConfig.Codegen,
		Derive:        derivePld,
	}
	if a.ActionConfig.Codegen.URI == "" {
		data.CodegenConfig.URI = a.getActionsCodegenURI(data.CodegenConfig.Framework)
	}

	resp, err := a.cliExtensionConfig.GetActionsCodegen(data)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.E(
			op,
			fmt.Errorf("error in getting codegen for action %s: %w", data.ActionName, err),
		)
	}

	for _, file := range resp.Files {
		err = os.WriteFile(
			filepath.Join(a.ActionConfig.Codegen.OutputDir, file.Name),
			[]byte(file.Content),
			0o644,
		)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.E(op, fmt.Errorf("error in writing codegen file: %w", err))
		}
	}

	return nil
}

func (a *ActionConfig) Validate() error {

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped error from the extension — it names the actual failure (unsupported framework, SDL parse error)
2. Upgrade the hasura CLI and its bundled actions codegen extension to the latest version and retry
3. Simplify the action signature (remove custom scalars/nested inputs) and retry codegen
4. Try a different --derive-from option supported by your extension version

if err := cfg.Codegen(name, derivePld); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "error in getting codegen for action") {
        // wrapped error is from the extension: surface it, upgrade extension, retry once
        log.Printf("codegen extension failed: %v", err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `hasura actions codegen <action>` with a derive payload whose language/framework the installed codegen extension does not support, or when the extension process fails on the submitted SDL.

Common situations: Using --derive-from typescript or a specific framework with an outdated actions codegen extension; upgrading the CLI without upgrading extensions; SDL containing custom scalars the codegen plugin can't handle.

Related errors

• error in marshalling common: %w
• error in writing codegen file: %w
• pulling latest actions codegen files from internet failed: %
• error getting actions file content: %w
• error generating codegen for action %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46ebae4877d497cc. Report an issue: GitHub.