puppetlabs/puppet · error · Puppet::Error

Could not parse JSON data for %{name} %{key}: %{detail}

Error message

Could not parse JSON data for %{name} %{key}: %{detail}

What it means

After a successful binary read of the stored file, model.convert_from('json', text) raised - the stored bytes are not valid JSON for the model. Raised as Puppet::Error 'Could not parse JSON data for <indirection> <key>: <detail>', where detail is the parser's message (unexpected token, EOF, schema mismatch). Corruption here means the file was truncated, hand-edited, or written by an incompatible puppet version.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/indirector/json.rb:71

  def data_dir
    Puppet.run_mode.server? ? Puppet[:server_datadir] : Puppet[:client_datadir]
  end

  def load_json_from_file(file, key)
    json = nil

    begin
      json = Puppet::FileSystem.read(file, :encoding => Encoding::BINARY)
    rescue Errno::ENOENT
      return nil
    rescue => detail
      raise Puppet::Error, _("Could not read JSON data for %{name} %{key}: %{detail}") % { name: indirection.name, key: key, detail: detail }, detail.backtrace
    end

    begin
      from_json(json)
    rescue => detail
      raise Puppet::Error, _("Could not parse JSON data for %{name} %{key}: %{detail}") % { name: indirection.name, key: key, detail: detail }, detail.backtrace
    end
  end

  def from_json(text)
    model.convert_from('json', text.force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_8))
  end

  def to_json(object)
    object.render('json')
  end
end

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Identify the file from the key: <datadir>/<indirection>/<key>.json and validate it (jq . file, or ruby -rjson -e 'JSON.parse(File.read(ARGV[0]))' file).
2. If the entry is regenerable (node cache, facts), delete it; Puppet recreates it on the next request.
3. For non-regenerable stores, restore the file from backup.
4. Fix the root cause: keep datadirs off full disks and never let external tools edit store files in place.

Example fix

# before: corrupted store entry
# Could not parse JSON data for node node1.example.com: 859: unexpected token at '...'

# after: drop the regenerable cache entry
rm "$(puppet config print server_datadir)/node/node1.example.com.json"
# the next request rebuilds it

file = store_path_for(key)
if File.exist?(file)
  JSON.parse(Puppet::FileSystem.read(file)) rescue(throw :corrupt_entry)
end

begin
  data = Puppet::Node.indirection.find(key)
rescue Puppet::Error => e
  if e.message.include?('Could not parse JSON data')
    Puppet::Node.indirection.destroy(key) # ENOENT-safe removal
    data = Puppet::Node.indirection.find(key) # rebuild the entry
  else
    raise
  end
end

When it happens

Trigger: find/search hitting a corrupted store/cache file: disk-full truncation, a kill during a non-atomic write, manual edits to datadir files, or a downgrade opening files serialized by a newer puppet version.

Common situations: Crash loops during disk-pressure events; operators hand-editing stored json; version rollbacks after upgrades changed serialization; tools that rewrite datadir files in place.

Related errors

• #{path}: #{detail.message}
• Could not deserialize catalog from %{format}: %{detail}
• HTTP REST queries cannot handle values of type '%{klass}'
• Could not destroy %{json} %{request}: %{detail}
• invalid key

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6f781b569bdd8561. Report an issue: GitHub.