hasura/graphql-engine · error

expected extension to be one of %v but got %s on file %s

Error message

expected extension to be one of %v but got %s on file %s

What it means

The seed-apply command only reads files with whitelisted extensions (the allowedExtensions list, e.g. .sql) from the seeds directory. hasAllowedSeedFileExtensions inspects each candidate file and rejects anything whose extension is not in that list, so non-SQL junk never reaches the database.

Source

Thrown at cli/seed/apply.go:27

	"github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/cli/v2"
	"github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/cli/v2/internal/errors"
	"github.com/hasura/graphql-engine/cli/v2/internal/hasura"
	"github.com/spf13/afero"
)

func hasAllowedSeedFileExtensions(filename string) error {
	var op errors.Op = "seed.hasAllowedSeedFileExtensions"

	extension := filepath.Ext(filename)

	allowedExtensions := []string{".sql", ".SQL"}
	if slices.Contains(allowedExtensions, extension) {
		return nil
	}

	return errors.E(
		op,
		fmt.Errorf(
			"expected extension to be one of %v but got %s on file %s",
			allowedExtensions,
			extension,
			filename,
		),
	)
}

// ApplySeedsToDatabase will read all .sql files in the given
// directory and apply it to hasura.
func (d *Driver) ApplySeedsToDatabase(
	fs afero.Fs,
	rootSeedsDirectory string,
	filenames []string,
	source cli.Source,
) error {
	var op errors.Op = "seed.Driver.ApplySeedsToDatabase"

View on GitHub (pinned to 724551b9ae)

Solutions

1. Rename the file to use an allowed extension (.sql) if it is a real seed.
2. Move non-seed files (READMEs, backups, notes) out of the seeds directory.
3. Delete stray files like .DS_Store or editor temp files from seeds/.
4. Do not widen allowedExtensions unless you fully control the directory contents.

Example fix

# before
seeds/
  0-seed.sql
  notes.txt        # rejected: expected extension to be one of [.sql]

# after
seeds/
  0-seed.sql
# notes.txt moved to project root or docs/

var allowed = map[string]bool{".sql": true}
filepath.WalkDir(seedsDir, func(p string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
    if !d.IsDir() && !allowed[strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(p))] {
        return nil // skip, don't let the CLI reject it
    }
    return nil
})

func isAllowedSeedFile(name string, allowed []string) bool {
    return slices.Contains(allowed, strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(name)))
}

if err := ApplySeedsToDatabase(...); err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "expected extension to be one of") {
    // clean the seeds dir and re-run
}

When it happens

Trigger: A file in the seeds directory ends with an extension not in allowedExtensions: .txt, .sql.bak, .md, or no extension at all. Triggered by ApplySeedsToDatabase when iterating (explicit-file mode) or walking (directory mode) the seeds folder.

Common situations: Leaving README.md, backup files like 0-seed.sql.bak, editor swap files, or .DS_Store inside the seeds/ directory; or renaming seed files from .sql to something else and forgetting the whitelist only accepts .sql.

Related errors

• getting list of seed files to move: %w
• error opening file: %w
• error walking the directory path: %w
• database %s of kind %s is not supported
• no data provided

AI-assisted analysis of hasura/graphql-engine@724551b9ae (2026-08-28). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d5b16990270a6944. Report an issue: GitHub.