netbirdio/netbird · error

record type is required

Error message

record type is required

What it means

Validate() returns this when Type is the empty string. FromAPIRequest copies req.Type (api.DNSRecordType, a string enum), so an omitted or blank "type" in DNSRecordRequest reaches it. The empty check runs before the per-type content switch.

Source

Thrown at management/internals/modules/zones/records/record.go:71

func (r *Record) FromAPIRequest(req *api.DNSRecordRequest) {
	r.Name = req.Name
	r.Type = RecordType(req.Type)
	r.Content = req.Content
	r.TTL = req.Ttl
}

func (r *Record) Validate() error {
	if r.Name == "" {
		return errors.New("record name is required")
	}

	if !domain.IsValidDomain(r.Name) {
		return errors.New("invalid record name format")
	}

	if r.Type == "" {
		return errors.New("record type is required")
	}

	switch r.Type {
	case RecordTypeA:
		if err := validateIPv4(r.Content); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	case RecordTypeAAAA:
		if err := validateIPv6(r.Content); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	case RecordTypeCNAME:
		if !domain.IsValidDomainNoWildcard(r.Content) {
			return errors.New("invalid CNAME target format")
		}
	default:
		return errors.New("invalid record type, must be A, AAAA, or CNAME")
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 93e97f4bf1)

Solutions

1. Set "type" to one of "A", "AAAA", or "CNAME" in the request.
2. If building Record in Go, set r.Type = records.RecordTypeA (or AAAA/CNAME) before Validate().
3. Make the client's type field required at the form/boundary layer so the request never leaves without it.

Example fix

// before
{"name": "api", "type": "", "content": "192.0.2.1"}
// after
{"name": "api", "type": "A", "content": "192.0.2.1"}

if req.Type == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("record type is required")
}

func hasRecordType(req *api.DNSRecordRequest) bool {
    return string(req.Type) != ""
}

if err := rec.Validate(); err != nil {
    return respondBadRequest(err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Record create/update body without a "type" key, or {"type": ""}; building a Record literal where Type is left as its zero value.

Common situations: A UI that defaults the type field to empty until a dropdown is touched; partial JSON merges that drop the type field; clients that send the type under a different key name.

Related errors

• record name is required
• zone name is required
• invalid record name format
• invalid CNAME target format
• invalid record type, must be A, AAAA, or CNAME

AI-assisted analysis of netbirdio/netbird@93e97f4bf1 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fa816c52db9be636. Report an issue: GitHub.