stalwartlabs/stalwart · error

Failed to delete keys

Error message

Failed to delete keys

What it means

This panic comes from `store.delete_range(from_key, to_key).await.expect("Failed to delete keys")` in `store_console`'s `delete <from_key> <to_key>` command. The count succeeded and the user confirmed, but the actual batch deletion write against the store backend failed, so `expect` panics and the console process aborts.

Source

Thrown at crates/common/src/manager/console.rs:137

                                },
                            )
                            .await
                            .expect("Failed to scan keys");

                        if total > 0 {
                            print!("Are you sure you want to delete {total} keys? (y/N): ");
                            io::stdout().flush().unwrap();
                            let mut response = String::new();
                            io::stdin().read_line(&mut response).unwrap();
                            if !response.trim().eq_ignore_ascii_case("y") {
                                println!("Aborted.");
                                return;
                            }

                            store
                                .delete_range(from_key, to_key)
                                .await
                                .expect("Failed to delete keys");
                            println!("Deleted {total} keys.");
                        } else {
                            println!("No keys found.");
                        }
                    }
                }
                (Some(key), None) => {
                    if let Some(key) = parse_key(key) {
                        println!("Deleting key: {:?}", key);
                        let mut key = key.into_iter();
                        let mut batch = BatchBuilder::new();
                        batch.clear(ValueClass::Any(AnyClass {
                            subspace: key.next().unwrap(),
                            key: key.collect(),
                        }));
                        if let Err(err) = store.write(batch.build_all()).await {
                            println!("Failed to delete key: {}", err);
                        }

View on GitHub (pinned to e962003857)

Solutions

1. Check whether the failure is transient (connection blip) and re-run the command; the wrapped backend error in the panic message names the cause.
2. Reduce the key range and delete in smaller chunks to stay within backend transaction/batch size limits.
3. Verify the store user has write/delete privileges and the backend is not a read-only replica.
4. If range deletes keep failing at the driver level, list keys with `scan` and delete them individually with `delete <key>`, which reports errors non-fatally.

// verify write access before confirming deletion
// e.g. ensure the store is not read-only and credentials permit deletes
if matches!(store, Store::None) {
    eprintln!("No store available. Verify your configuration.");
    return;
}

match store.delete_range(from_key, to_key).await {
    Ok(()) => println!("Deleted {total} keys."),
    Err(err) => eprintln!("Failed to delete keys: {}", err), // keep console alive instead of .expect
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `delete <from_key> <to_key>` and answering "y" to the confirmation prompt, then the backend write fails: DB connection lost between the count and the delete, write rejected by the backend (read-only replica, permissions, transaction too large), driver error committing the delete batch.

Common situations: Long-lived console sessions whose DB connection timed out before the delete; attempting deletes against a read-only database replica; deleting a huge key range exceeding backend transaction/batch size limits (e.g. FoundationDB or MySQL packet limits); insufficient DB user privileges to delete rows.

Related errors

• Failed to scan keys
• Migration aborted: {message}
• Failed to decode base64
• unwrap_tls called on non-TLS acceptor
• Unknown database schema version, expected {} or below, found

AI-assisted analysis of stalwartlabs/stalwart@e962003857 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7e1f5499131ddd11. Report an issue: GitHub.