What causes "invalid %s: expected boolean" in t8y2/dbx?

Inspect the value at the reported path and replace it with a boolean literal `true`/`false`.

invalid %s: expected boolean

Error message

invalid %s: expected boolean

What it means

hoconBool throws this when the value at the config path exists but is neither a hocon.Boolean nor a hocon.String — i.e. it is some other HOCON type such as a number, object, or array. The driver only coerces booleans and boolean-like strings.

Source

Thrown at agents/drivers/cassandra-go/config_file.go:435

	return value, true, nil
}

func hoconBool(config *hocon.Config, path string) (bool, bool, error) {
	value := config.Get(path)
	if value == nil {
		return false, false, nil
	}
	switch typed := value.(type) {
	case hocon.Boolean:
		return bool(typed), true, nil
	case hocon.String:
		parsed, err := strconv.ParseBool(string(typed))
		if err != nil {
			return false, false, fmt.Errorf("invalid %s: %w", path, err)
		}
		return parsed, true, nil
	default:
		return false, false, fmt.Errorf("invalid %s: expected boolean", path)
	}
}

func firstHOCONBool(config *hocon.Config, paths ...string) (bool, bool, error) {
	for _, path := range paths {
		value, ok, err := hoconBool(config, path)
		if err != nil || ok {
			return value, ok, err
		}
	}
	return false, false, nil
}

func hoconProtocolVersion(config *hocon.Config, path string) (int, bool, error) {
	value := config.Get(path)
	if value == nil {
		return 0, false, nil
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to c0390bff16)

Solutions

Inspect the value at the reported path and replace it with a boolean literal `true`/`false`.
If an object was accidentally nested there, fix the indentation/bracing so the key points at a scalar.
Replace numeric truthy values (`1`) with explicit booleans.

Example fix

// before
reconnect = {
  enabled = true
}

// after
reconnect = true

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func ensureScalarBoolPath(cfg *hocon.Config, path string) error {
    v := cfg.Get(path)
    if v == nil {
        return nil
    }
    switch v.(type) {
    case hocon.Boolean, hocon.String:
        return nil
    default:
        return fmt.Errorf("%s resolves to a non-scalar (%T); it must point at a boolean", path, v)
    }
}

Type guard

func isBoolOrBoolString(v interface{}) bool {
    switch t := v.(type) {
    case hocon.Boolean:
        return true
    case hocon.String:
        _, err := strconv.ParseBool(string(t))
        return err == nil
    default:
        return false
    }
}

Try / catch

if _, ok, err := hoconBool(cfg, path); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("%s must be a boolean scalar; check for accidental nesting: %w", path, err)
}

Prevention

Check HOCON brace placement so boolean keys are not accidentally nested objects.
Avoid HOCON object merges that replace a scalar with a block.
Keep one key per scalar; do not merge multiple config fragments blindly.

When it happens

Trigger: applyJavaDriverHOCON, applyHOCONSSL, applyNativeHOCON, or firstHOCONBool encountering a boolean key whose value is a number (e.g. `2`), a nested object, or an array.

Common situations: Accidentally nesting config keys so a boolean path resolves to an object, or setting a numeric flag expecting truthiness semantics.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of t8y2/dbx@c0390bff16 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/78b7444e4f480593. Report an issue: GitHub.