puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::ParseError

Could not find data item %{key} in any Hiera data file and n

Error message

Could not find data item %{key} in any Hiera data file and no default supplied

What it means

HieraPuppet.lookup raises Puppet::ParseError when hiera.lookup returns nil and no default was passed: the key had no value at any level of the hierarchy. The legacy hiera() function is a fail-if-miss exact lookup by design, so a miss without a default is fatal at compile time.

Source

Thrown at lib/hiera_puppet.rb:16

# frozen_string_literal: true

Puppet.features.hiera?
require 'hiera/scope'
require_relative 'puppet'

module HieraPuppet
  module_function

  def lookup(key, default, scope, override, resolution_type)
    scope = Hiera::Scope.new(scope)

    answer = hiera.lookup(key, default, scope, override, resolution_type)

    if answer.nil?
      raise Puppet::ParseError, _("Could not find data item %{key} in any Hiera data file and no default supplied") % { key: key }
    end

    answer
  end

  def parse_args(args)
    # Functions called from Puppet manifests like this:
    #
    #   hiera("foo", "bar")
    #
    # Are invoked internally after combining the positional arguments into a
    # single array:
    #
    #   func = function_hiera
    #   func(["foo", "bar"])
    #
    # Functions called from templates preserve the positional arguments:
    #

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Supply an explicit default: hiera('mykey', 'sane-default')
2. Add the key to the hierarchy level that should own it, then verify with: puppet lookup --explain mykey
3. Fix the hierarchy in hiera.yaml (paths, datadir, backends) if every key misses
4. Prefer the modern lookup() function with an explicit default_value over the deprecated hiera()

Example fix

# before
$port = hiera('myapp::port')  # ParseError when key absent everywhere

# after
$port = lookup('myapp::port', Integer, 'first', 8080)

answer = hiera.lookup(key, :__missing__, scope, override, resolution_type)
if answer == :__missing__
  answer = computed_default # or raise a domain-specific error
end

begin
  value = hiera('mykey')
rescue Puppet::ParseError
  value = 'sane-default' # or lookup('mykey', 'sane-default') from the start
end

When it happens

Trigger: Calling hiera('mykey') in a manifest or scope.function_hiera(['mykey']) in a template when no hierarchy level defines mykey; also when the hierarchy or datadir is misconfigured so every lookup misses.

Common situations: Missing or typo'd key in hiera data; hiera.yaml hierarchy paths not matching the actual file layout; an eyaml/encrypted backend failing silently so nothing matches; code migrated from another site that assumed a default existed.

Related errors

• %{path}: file does not contain a valid yaml hash
• Unrecognized value for request 'merge' parameter: '%{merge}'
• Function lookup() did not find a value for the name '%{name}
• Unrecognized value for request 'merge' parameter: '#{merge}'
• Undefined variable '%{name}'; %{reason}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8745b85e9cc8d73e. Report an issue: GitHub.