owasp-amass/amass · error

expected 'database' to be a string, got %T

Error message

expected 'database' to be a string, got %T

What it means

loadDatabaseSettings found a value under the 'database' option key whose Go type is not string (the %T verb shows the actual type, e.g. map or float from YAML). The subsequent dbURIInterface.(string) assertion fails, so the database URI cannot be parsed or passed to loadDatabase.

Source

Thrown at config/graphdb.go:49

	assetPort   = "AMASS_DB_PORT"
	assetDBName = "AMASS_DB_NAME"
)

func (c *Config) loadDatabaseSettings(cfg *Config) error {
	if c.Options == nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("config options are not initialized")
	}

	dbURIInterface, ok := c.Options["database"]
	if !ok {
		if err := c.LoadDatabaseEnvSettings(); err != nil {
			return nil
		}
	}

	dbURI, ok := dbURIInterface.(string)
	if !ok {
		return fmt.Errorf("expected 'database' to be a string, got %T", dbURIInterface)
	}

	if _, err := url.Parse(dbURI); err == nil {
		if err := c.loadDatabase(dbURI); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}
	return nil
}

// LoadDatabaseEnvSettings initializes the DB structure with the Environment variables.
func (c *Config) LoadDatabaseEnvSettings() error {
	dbURI := ""
	db := &Database{
		Primary: true,
		System:  "postgres",
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 79299dce87)

Solutions

1. Write the 'database' setting as a URI string, e.g. "postgres://user:pass@host:5432/dbname"
2. If YAML anchors or nesting produced a map, flatten it to a single URI string
3. Validate the config schema up front so non-string 'database' values are rejected with a location hint

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at config/graphdb.go:49 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of owasp-amass/amass@79299dce87 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/39030567bbdba4ba. Report an issue: GitHub.