symfony/routing · error · InvalidArgumentException

The routing file " " must not specify both the "stateless"…

Error message

The routing file "%s" must not specify both the "stateless" key and the defaults key "_stateless" for "%s".

What it means

Statelessness can be declared with the route-level 'stateless' key or via defaults['_stateless'], never both. ContentLoaderTrait::validate() throws InvalidArgumentException when both appear, since the two settings could disagree and Symfony refuses to guess.

Solutions

  1. Keep the top-level 'stateless' key and remove defaults['_stateless']
  2. Or remove the top-level 'stateless' key if you intentionally rely on the defaults form (older style)
  3. Grep routing files for '_stateless' after version upgrades

Example fix

# before
app_api:
    path: /api
    stateless: true
    defaults:
        _stateless: true

# after
app_api:
    path: /api
    stateless: true
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (isset($config['stateless']) && isset($config['defaults']['_stateless'])) {
    throw new \LogicException('Use either "stateless" or defaults._stateless, not both.');
}

Type guard

function hasSingleStateless(array $config): bool { return !(isset($config['stateless']) && isset($config['defaults']['_stateless'])); }

Try / catch

try { $collection = $loader->load($file, 'yaml'); } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) { /* duplicate stateless declaration; dedupe config */ }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A route entry containing both 'stateless: true' (top-level) and 'defaults: { _stateless: true }' in the same routing file.

Common situations: Upgrading configs from Symfony versions where _stateless in defaults was the documented form; mixing snippets from docs of different versions; merge conflicts resolved by keeping both lines.

Understand the failure class

Background: Conflicting config options: "cannot be used together" — configuration validation errors across open-source libraries — this error's family across 162 libraries.

Related errors


AI-assisted analysis of symfony/routing@83fa223250 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6db2fdbe7a42f96d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at Loader/ContentLoaderTrait.php:232

            return;
        }
        if ($extraKeys = array_diff(array_keys($config), self::AVAILABLE_KEYS)) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" contains unsupported keys for "%s": "%s". Expected one of: "%s".', $path, $name, implode('", "', $extraKeys), implode('", "', self::AVAILABLE_KEYS)));
        }
        if (isset($config['resource']) && isset($config['path'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" must not specify both the "resource" key and the "path" key for "%s". Choose between an import and a route definition.', $path, $name));
        }
        if (!isset($config['resource']) && isset($config['type'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The "type" key for the route definition "%s" in "%s" is unsupported. It is only available for imports in combination with the "resource" key.', $name, $path));
        }
        if (!isset($config['resource']) && !isset($config['path'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('You must define a "path" for the route "%s" in file "%s".', $name, $path));
        }
        if (isset($config['controller']) && isset($config['defaults']['_controller'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" must not specify both the "controller" key and the defaults key "_controller" for "%s".', $path, $name));
        }
        if (isset($config['stateless']) && isset($config['defaults']['_stateless'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" must not specify both the "stateless" key and the defaults key "_stateless" for "%s".', $path, $name));
        }
        if (isset($config['firewall']) && isset($config['defaults']['_firewall'])) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" must not specify both the "firewall" key and the defaults key "_firewall" for "%s".', $path, $name));
        }
    }

    /**
     * Validates that an alias definition only carries the `alias` and `deprecated` keys.
     *
     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException If one of the provided config keys is not supported,
     *                                   something is missing or the combination is nonsense
     */
    private function validateAlias(array $config, string $name, string $path): void
    {
        foreach ($config as $key => $value) {
            if (!\in_array($key, ['alias', 'deprecated'], true)) {
                throw new \InvalidArgumentException(\sprintf('The routing file "%s" must not specify other keys than "alias" and "deprecated" for "%s".', $path, $name));
            }

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