puppetlabs/puppet · error · MissingMetadata

No #{attr} module metadata provided for #{name}

Error message

No #{attr} module metadata provided for #{name}

What it means

Puppet::Module#load_metadata walks the five required keys — source, author, version, license, dependencies — and raises Puppet::Module::MissingMetadata when any value is nil (lib/puppet/module.rb:253). Unlike the malformed-JSON case, this always raises regardless of the `strict` setting. Empty strings pass (only nil fails), but a missing, null, or misnamed key aborts module loading.

Source

Thrown at lib/puppet/module.rb:253

    when :warning
      Puppet.warning(msg)
    when :error
      raise FaultyMetadata, msg
    end
    {}
  end

  def load_metadata
    return if instance_variable_defined?(:@metadata)

    @metadata = data = read_metadata
    return if data.empty?

    @forge_name = data['name'].tr('-', '/') if data['name']

    [:source, :author, :version, :license, :dependencies].each do |attr|
      value = data[attr.to_s]
      raise MissingMetadata, "No #{attr} module metadata provided for #{name}" if value.nil?

      if attr == :dependencies
        unless value.is_a?(Array)
          raise MissingMetadata, "The value for the key dependencies in the file metadata.json of the module #{name} must be an array, not: '#{value}'"
        end

        value.each do |dep|
          name = dep['name']
          dep['name'] = name.tr('-', '/') unless name.nil?
          dep['version_requirement'] ||= '>= 0.0.0'
        end
      end

      send(attr.to_s + "=", value)
    end
  end

  # Return the list of manifests matching the given glob pattern,

View on GitHub (pinned to e227c27540)

Solutions

1. Add all five keys with real values: source, author, version, license, dependencies (dependencies may be an empty array)
2. Use exact spellings: `license` (US spelling), `author` (singular)
3. Generate the file with pdk or `puppet module generate` and fill in the template

Example fix

// before (metadata.json)
{
  "name": "acme-web",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

// after
{
  "name": "acme-web",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "author": "acme",
  "license": "Apache-2.0",
  "source": "https://github.com/acme/puppet-web",
  "dependencies": []
}

required = %w[source author version license dependencies]
data = Puppet::Util::Json.load(File.read('metadata.json'))
missing = required.select { |k| data[k].nil? }
raise ArgumentError, "metadata.json missing: #{missing.join(', ')}" unless missing.empty?

begin
  mod = Puppet::Module.find(name, environment)
  mod.load_metadata if mod
rescue Puppet::Module::MissingMetadata => e
  Puppet.warning("module #{name}: #{e.message}")
  next
end

When it happens

Trigger: metadata.json containing only name/version; a key explicitly set to JSON null; misspellings like 'licence' or 'authors' that leave the expected key nil.

Common situations: Hand-written minimal metadata for internal modules; metadata written by tooling unfamiliar with Forge conventions; refactoring that drops a key.

Related errors

• %{name} has an invalid and unparsable metadata.json file. Th
• The value for the key dependencies in the file metadata.json
• Dependency conflict for %{module_name}: Dependency %{name} w
• Invalid 'name' field in metadata.json: %{err}
• Invalid 'version' field in metadata.json: %{err}

AI-assisted analysis of puppetlabs/puppet@e227c27540 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3317f19f5496cab8. Report an issue: GitHub.