puppetlabs/puppet · error · ArgumentError

Invalid terminus name %{terminus_class}

Error message

Invalid terminus name %{terminus_class}

What it means

Indirection#terminus_class= (also used by cache=) validates before storing the setting: a nil or blank terminus name is rejected with ArgumentError 'Invalid terminus name'. Settings such as catalog_terminus = <value> in puppet.conf funnel into this setter, so an empty configuration value explodes here at first use of the indirection.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/indirector/indirection.rb:184

      end
    end
    @terminus_class.value
  end

  def reset_terminus_class
    @terminus_class.value = nil
  end

  # Specify the terminus class to use.
  def terminus_class=(klass)
    validate_terminus_class(klass)
    @terminus_class.value = klass
  end

  # This is used by terminus_class= and cache=.
  def validate_terminus_class(terminus_class)
    unless terminus_class and terminus_class.to_s != ""
      raise ArgumentError, _("Invalid terminus name %{terminus_class}") % { terminus_class: terminus_class.inspect }
    end

    unless Puppet::Indirector::Terminus.terminus_class(name, terminus_class)
      raise ArgumentError, _("Could not find terminus %{terminus_class} for indirection %{name}") %
                           { terminus_class: terminus_class, name: name }
    end
  end

  # Expire a cached object, if one is cached.  Note that we don't actually
  # remove it, we expire it and write it back out to disk.  This way people
  # can still use the expired object if they want.
  def expire(key, options = {})
    request = request(:expire, key, nil, options)

    return nil unless cache? && !request.ignore_cache_save?

    instance = cache.find(request(:find, key, nil, options))
    return nil unless instance

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Delete the empty <name>_terminus setting so Puppet falls back to the documented default for the run mode.
2. Set a real terminus name explicitly, e.g. catalog_terminus = compiler on a server, rest on an agent.
3. When setting programmatically, guard for blank values before assignment.
4. Verify the effective value afterwards with puppet config print <name>_terminus.

Example fix

# puppet.conf - before
[agent]
catalog_terminus =

# after
[agent]
# removed entirely to use the default, or set explicitly:
catalog_terminus = rest

def set_terminus!(indirection, name)
  raise ArgumentError, 'terminus name required' if name.to_s.strip.empty?
  indirection.terminus_class = name
end

When it happens

Trigger: 'catalog_terminus =' or 'node_terminus =' with an empty value in puppet.conf; templated configuration rendering an empty string; Ruby code assigning indirection.terminus_class = nil or ''.

Common situations: ERB/EPP templates leaving terminus settings blank 'to use defaults'; Ansible/Puppet-managed puppet.conf with an empty variable interpolated; YAML null coerced to an empty string.

Related errors

• Could not find terminus %{terminus_class} for indirection %{
• Could not find terminus %{terminus_class} for indirection %{
• Listing remote file buckets is not allowed
• Could not find %{request} to destroy
• Could not read MessagePack data for %{indirection} %{key}: %

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/22172898e640099c. Report an issue: GitHub.