redis/go-redis · error

failed to create connection create time histogram: %w

Error message

failed to create connection create time histogram: %w

What it means

Returned by createRecorder when dbconv.NewClientConnectionCreateTime fails to create the db.client.connection.create_time histogram. Init aborts initialization and no metrics are registered. As with all recorder errors, the root cause is a MeterProvider that refuses instrument creation.

Source

Thrown at extra/redisotel-native/redisotel.go:223

		connectionCount, err = meter.Int64UpDownCounter(
			dbconv.ClientConnectionCount{}.Name(),
			metric.WithDescription(dbconv.ClientConnectionCount{}.Description()),
			metric.WithUnit(dbconv.ClientConnectionCount{}.Unit()),
		)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create connection count metric: %w", err)
		}

		var connectionCreateTimeOpts []metric.Float64HistogramOption
		if cfg.histAggregation == HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket {
			connectionCreateTimeOpts = append(connectionCreateTimeOpts,
				metric.WithExplicitBucketBoundaries(cfg.bucketsConnectionCreateTime...),
			)
		}
		var connectionCreateTimeConv dbconv.ClientConnectionCreateTime
		connectionCreateTimeConv, err = dbconv.NewClientConnectionCreateTime(meter, connectionCreateTimeOpts...)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create connection create time histogram: %w", err)
		}
		connectionCreateTime = connectionCreateTimeConv.Inst()

		connectionRelaxedTimeout, err = meter.Int64UpDownCounter(
			MetricConnectionRelaxedTimeout,
			metric.WithDescription("How many times the connection timeout has been increased/decreased (after a server maintenance notification)"),
			metric.WithUnit("{relaxation}"),
		)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create connection relaxed timeout metric: %w", err)
		}

		connectionHandoff, err = meter.Int64Counter(
			MetricConnectionHandoff,
			metric.WithDescription("Connections that have been handed off to another node (e.g after a MOVING notification)"),
		)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create connection handoff metric: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to c5cad058c7)

Solutions

1. Check BucketsConnectionCreateTime: boundaries must be strictly increasing positive values when HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket is set
2. Use HistogramAggregationDefault (drop the explicit-bucket option) if boundaries are not required
3. Ensure the MeterProvider is live (not Shutdown) before calling Init
4. Unwrap the error to find the SDK's specific complaint and consult the otel SDK docs
5. Update go.opentelemetry.io/otel to a version compatible with the dbconv package in use

Example fix

// before
cfg.HistogramAggregation = redisotel.HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket
cfg.BucketsConnectionCreateTime = []float64{} // empty boundaries
// after
cfg.HistogramAggregation = redisotel.HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket
cfg.BucketsConnectionCreateTime = []float64{0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1}

func validBuckets(b []float64) bool {
    for i := range b {
        if b[i] <= 0 || (i > 0 && b[i] <= b[i-1]) { return false }
    }
    return true
}
if cfg.HistogramAggregation == redisotel.HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket && !validBuckets(cfg.BucketsConnectionCreateTime) {
    cfg.HistogramAggregation = redisotel.HistogramAggregationDefault
}

if err := obs.Init(cfg); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "connection create time histogram") {
        cfg.HistogramAggregation = redisotel.HistogramAggregationDefault
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Init with MetricGroupFlagConnectionBasic enabled, HistogramAggregationExplicitBucket configured, and a MeterProvider that is shut down, misconfigured, or rejects the explicit bucket boundaries supplied in BucketsConnectionCreateTime.

Common situations: Custom histogram aggregations with empty or non-monotonic bucket boundaries; provider shutdown before Init in graceful-shutdown code paths; SDK upgrade changing bucket-validation rules.

Related errors

• failed to create connection wait time histogram: %w
• failed to create operation duration histogram: %w
• failed to create connection count metric: %w
• failed to create connection relaxed timeout metric: %w
• failed to create connection handoff metric: %w

AI-assisted analysis of redis/go-redis@c5cad058c7 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7568bedb4afd90d5. Report an issue: GitHub.