vectordotdev/vector · error

Env var DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT must be an unsigned 32 bit integer

Error message

Env var DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT must be an unsigned 32 bit integer.

What it means

DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT is read at compile time via option_env! and parsed lazily at first use by the Datadog metrics encoder. If the build environment exported a value that does not parse as u32, the first metrics encode after startup panics the process. When unset, the default value 14 is used; the variable exists so Datadog internal builds can tag the origin product.

Source

Thrown at src/sinks/datadog/metrics/encoder.rs:49

        DatadogSeriesMetricMetadata,
    },
    proto::fds::protobuf_descriptors,
    sinks::util::{Compression, Compressor, encode_namespace, request_builder::EncodeResult},
};

const SERIES_PAYLOAD_HEADER: &[u8] = b"{\"series\":[";
const SERIES_PAYLOAD_FOOTER: &[u8] = b"]}";
const SERIES_PAYLOAD_DELIMITER: &[u8] = b",";

pub(super) const ORIGIN_CATEGORY_VALUE: u32 = 11;

const DEFAULT_DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT_VALUE: u32 = 14;

pub(super) static ORIGIN_PRODUCT_VALUE: LazyLock<u32> = LazyLock::new(|| {
    option_env!("DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT")
        .map(|p| {
            p.parse::<u32>()
                .expect("Env var DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT must be an unsigned 32 bit integer.")
        })
        .unwrap_or(DEFAULT_DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT_VALUE)
});

#[allow(warnings, clippy::pedantic, clippy::nursery)]
mod ddmetric_proto {
    include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/datadog.agentpayload.rs"));
}

#[derive(Debug, Snafu)]
pub enum EncoderError {
    #[snafu(display(
        "Invalid metric value '{}' was given; '{}' expected",
        metric_value,
        expected
    ))]
    InvalidMetric {
        expected: &'static str,

View on GitHub (pinned to 3708c39b12)

Solutions

1. Unset or correct the variable in the build environment (unset DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT, or DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT=14 cargo build) and rebuild
2. Add a build.rs/CI assertion that option_env!("DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT") parses as u32 when present
3. Remove the variable from Dockerfiles/CI env blocks that leak into cargo build when origin tagging is not needed

Example fix

# before (Dockerfile)
ENV DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT=true
RUN cargo build --release

# after
RUN cargo build --release

# build.sh / CI step
if [ -n "$DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT" ]; then
  case "$DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT" in
    ''|*[!0-9]*) echo "DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT must be a u32" >&2; exit 1;;
  esac
fi
cargo build --release

When it happens

Trigger: Building Vector (or a binary embedding this encoder) with DD_ORIGIN_PRODUCT=true, a negative number, a value above u32::MAX, or one containing whitespace/quotes; the panic then occurs at runtime on the first Datadog metrics payload, not at build time.

Common situations: CI images leaking unrelated DD_* variables (Datadog agents, docker build args); pipelines filling the variable from unvalidated secret stores; local shells exporting it for the Datadog agent while building Vector.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a valid" / "Invalid ... value" environment variable errors: how libraries validate env vars and what to do when they reject yours — this error's family across 48 libraries.

Related errors

• `error` should be an i64
• `duration` should be an i64
• `parent_id` should be an i64
• message is required (make sure the "message" semantic meanin
• API key should be only valid ASCII characters

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@3708c39b12 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/326fc28f26082e0e. Report an issue: GitHub.