phalcon/cphalcon · error · MissingParameterKey

Service 'value' is required in parameter on position {}

Error message

Service 'value' is required in parameter on position {}

What it means

Thrown by Phalcon\Di\Service\Builder::buildParameter() when an argument is declared with 'type' => 'parameter' but has no 'value' key. The 'parameter' type injects a literal value as-is; the 'value' key carries that literal. Without it the builder has nothing to pass to the constructor.

Source

Thrown at phalcon/Di/Service/Builder.zep:229

        switch type {
            /**
             * If the argument type is 'service', we obtain the service from the
             * DI
             */
            case "service":
                if unlikely !fetch name, argument["name"] {
                    throw new MissingParameterKey("name", position);
                }

                return container->get(name);

            /**
             * If the argument type is 'parameter', we assign the value as it is
             */
            case "parameter":
                if unlikely !fetch value, argument["value"] {
                    throw new MissingParameterKey("value", position);
                }

                return value;

            /**
             * If the argument type is 'instance', we assign the value as it is
             */
            case "instance":
                if unlikely !fetch name, argument["className"] {
                    throw new MissingParameterKey("className", position);
                }

                if fetch instanceArguments, argument["arguments"] {
                    /**
                     * Build the instance with arguments
                     */
                    return container->get(name, instanceArguments);
                }

View on GitHub (pinned to b7419de9cd)

Solutions

1. Add the literal: ['type' => 'parameter', 'value' => 42].
2. Check the position reported in the message (0-based) against your 'arguments' array to find the entry missing 'value'.
3. If values come from config, assert the config key exists before building the definition.

Example fix

// before
$di->set('cache', [
    'className' => \App\Cache::class,
    'arguments' => [
        ['type' => 'parameter'],            // missing value
    ],
]);

// after
$di->set('cache', [
    'className' => \App\Cache::class,
    'arguments' => [
        ['type' => 'parameter', 'value' => 3600],
    ],
]);

function assertParameterHasValue(array $arg, int $position): void
{
    if (($arg['type'] ?? null) === 'parameter' && !array_key_exists('value', $arg)) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException("Argument {$position}: type 'parameter' requires 'value'");
    }
}

function isParameterArgumentWithValue(mixed $arg): bool
{
    return is_array($arg)
        && ($arg['type'] ?? null) === 'parameter'
        && array_key_exists('value', $arg); // value may legitimately be 0/false/null
}

try {
    $di->get('mailer');
} catch (\Phalcon\Di\Exceptions\MissingParameterKey $e) {
    if (str_contains($e->getMessage(), "'value'")) {
        // literal argument missing its value - definition bug, fix the config
    }
    throw $e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: An argument entry like ['type' => 'parameter'] (or 'value' misspelled as 'val', 'default', 'data') inside an array service definition, surfacing when the service is resolved. Message reads: "Service 'value' is required in parameter on position N".

Common situations: Copy-pasting a 'service' argument and changing the type but forgetting the companion key, renaming keys, or passing nested arrays that were flattened somewhere (config loading, environment-specific overrides) so 'value' got lost.

Related errors

• Argument at position {} must have a type
• Service '{}' is required in parameter on position {}
• Service 'className' is required in parameter on position {}
• Unknown service type in parameter on position {}
• A dependency injection container is required to access the '

AI-assisted analysis of phalcon/cphalcon@b7419de9cd (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1bab7e132de63a7f. Report an issue: GitHub.