jaegertracing/jaeger · error
and are required
Error message
%s and %s are required
What it means
parseFindTracesQuery requires both `query.startTimeMin` and `query.startTimeMax` (RFC3339Nano bounds on trace start time). If either is absent (or empty), the request is rejected with this message naming both canonical parameter names.
Solutions
- Add both query.startTimeMin and query.startTimeMax as RFC3339Nano timestamps (e.g. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z).
- If using the deprecated aliases (query.start_time_min/query.start_time_max), they are accepted, but must both be non-empty.
- If your client omits empty params, default them to a sensible window (e.g. last 24h).
Example fix
// before GET /api/v3/traces?query.serviceName=foo // after GET /api/v3/traces?query.serviceName=foo&query.startTimeMin=2026-01-01T00:00:00Z&query.startTimeMax=2026-01-02T00:00:00Z
Defensive patterns
Strategy: validation
Validate before calling
func ensureTimeRange(params url.Values) error {
if params.Get("query.startTimeMin") == "" || params.Get("query.startTimeMax") == "" {
return errors.New("query.startTimeMin and query.startTimeMax are required")
}
return nil
} Try / catch
if resp.StatusCode == 400 {
return fmt.Errorf("time range required: %s", mustRead(resp.Body))
} Prevention
- Always set both bounds in your query builder; default to a rolling window (now-24h .. now).
- Never send empty-string time params; omit them only if you provide the other bound too - actually both are required, so always provide both.
- Add a client-side unit test asserting the required params are present.
When it happens
Trigger: GET /api/v3/traces or /api/v3/traces/summaries without query.startTimeMin, without query.startTimeMax, or supplying only one of the two; also when supplying only deprecated snake_case aliases that are empty strings.
Common situations: Clients assuming time range is optional as in older Jaeger APIs; query builders omitting empty time bounds; migrations from snake_case params where the canonical camelCase params were never sent.
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
- must be before
- SearchDepth must not be greater than
- unable to parse param
- unsupported span kind
- abnormal value of http status code
AI-assisted analysis of jaegertracing/jaeger@806f444784 (2026-09-01).
Data as JSON: /api/errors/ec411d4228458ef0.
Report an issue: GitHub.
Appendix: source
Thrown at cmd/jaeger/internal/extension/jaegerquery/internal/apiv3/query_parser.go:103
queryParams.Attributes = jptrace.PlainMapToPcommonMap(attrsMap)
}
// The filter parameter carries a JSON-encoded expression.
if filterParam := q.Get(paramFilter); filterParam != "" {
var call expressionproto.Call
if err := jsonpb.Unmarshal(strings.NewReader(filterParam), &call); err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("malformed parameter %s: %w", paramFilter, err)
}
filter, err := expressionproto.FromProto(&call)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("malformed parameter %s: %w", paramFilter, err)
}
queryParams.Filter = filter
}
timeMinStr, timeMinParam := getQueryParam(q, paramTimeMin, paramTimeMinDeprecated)
timeMaxStr, timeMaxParam := getQueryParam(q, paramTimeMax, paramTimeMaxDeprecated)
if timeMinStr == "" || timeMaxStr == "" {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s and %s are required", paramTimeMin, paramTimeMax)
}
timeMinParsed, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, timeMinStr)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("malformed parameter %s: %w", timeMinParam, err)
}
timeMaxParsed, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339Nano, timeMaxStr)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("malformed parameter %s: %w", timeMaxParam, err)
}
if !timeMinParsed.Before(timeMaxParsed) {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s must be before %s", paramTimeMin, paramTimeMax)
}
queryParams.StartTimeMin = timeMinParsed
queryParams.StartTimeMax = timeMaxParsed
n, searchDepthParam := getQueryParam(q, paramSearchDepth, paramSearchDepthDeprecated)
if n == "" {
n = q.Get(paramNumTraces)View on GitHub (pinned to 806f444784)