temporalio/temporal · error

unable to delete workflow execution: %w

Error message

unable to delete workflow execution: %w

What it means

Returned when the main DELETE (templateDeleteWorkflowExecution_v8) on the executions_visibility table fails within DeleteFromVisibility. The deferred rollback discards all prior statements in the transaction. The wrapped error holds the driver-level cause.

Source

Thrown at common/persistence/sql/sqlplugin/mysql/visibility.go:206

	tx, err := db.BeginTxx(ctx, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	defer func() {
		err := tx.Rollback()
		// If the error is sql.ErrTxDone, it means the transaction already closed, so ignore error.
		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, sql.ErrTxDone) {
			// Transaction rollback error should never happen, unless db connection was lost.
			retError = fmt.Errorf("transaction rollback failed: %w", retError)
		}
	}()
	_, err = tx.NamedExecContext(ctx, templateDeleteCustomSearchAttributes, filter)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to delete custom search attributes: %w", err)
	}
	result, err = tx.NamedExecContext(ctx, templateDeleteWorkflowExecution_v8, filter)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to delete workflow execution: %w", err)
	}
	_, err = tx.NamedExecContext(ctx, templateDeleteChasmSearchAttributes, filter)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to delete chasm search attributes: %w", err)
	}
	err = tx.Commit()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return result, nil
}

// SelectFromVisibility reads one or more rows from visibility table
func (mdb *db) SelectFromVisibility(
	ctx context.Context,
	filter sqlplugin.VisibilitySelectFilter,
) ([]sqlplugin.VisibilityRow, error) {
	if len(filter.Query) == 0 {

View on GitHub (pinned to bde624efd1)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped driver error for the exact MySQL errno (e.g. 1146 unknown table, 1205 lock timeout).
2. Apply pending visibility schema migrations so the table matches templateDeleteWorkflowExecution_v8.
3. Retry the operation after transient lock-timeout errors.
4. Check for long-running transactions/holders of the row lock in SHOW ENGINE INNODB STATUS / information_schema.innodb_trx.

// Go: verify schema version matches expected template (v8) before serving
SELECT version FROM schema_version WHERE schema_name = 'visibility';

// Go
if err := store.DeleteFromVisibility(ctx, req); err != nil {
    if isLockTimeout(err) || isConnErr(err) {
        return retryWithBackoff(ctx, op)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: DeleteFromVisibility when the workflow-execution delete statement fails: connection loss, lock wait timeout, or schema version that doesn't match templateDeleteWorkflowExecution_v8 (older schema lacking expected columns).

Common situations: Running a newer server against an old visibility schema (v8 template expects columns/tables added in later migrations); concurrent deletes or foreign-key constraints blocking the row; DB connectivity blips.

Understand the failure class

Background: "query failed", "%w: SQL error" — wrapped database query errors in Go libraries explained — this error's family across 3 libraries.

Related errors

• unable to delete custom search attributes: %w
• unable to delete chasm search attributes: %w
• transaction rollback failed: %w
• rowsAffected returned error when initializing DLQ metadata
• ErrQueueAlreadyExists

AI-assisted analysis of temporalio/temporal@bde624efd1 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8e59add5c188dc3a. Report an issue: GitHub.