vectordotdev/vector · critical

`parent_id` should be an i64

Error message

`parent_id` should be an i64

What it means

extract_weight_from_root_span() in the datadog_traces sink walks the span list to find the root span and compute its sampling weight. It reads 'parent_id' (and sibling fields 'span_id'/'trace_id') expecting Value::Integer or None (absent parent_id means root); a present-but-non-integer value hits the catch-all and panics. Note 'trace_id' is stricter: for the first span it must be present as an integer, otherwise the panic fires too.

Source

Thrown at src/sinks/datadog/traces/apm_stats/weight.rs:29

    // TODO this logic likely has a bug(s) that need to be root caused. The root span is not reliably found and defaults to "1.0"
    // regularly for users even when sampling is disabled in the Agent.
    // GH issue to track that: https://github.com/vectordotdev/vector/issues/14859

    if spans.is_empty() {
        return 1.0;
    }

    let mut trace_id: Option<usize> = None;

    let mut parent_id_to_child_weight = BTreeMap::<i64, f64>::new();
    let mut span_ids = Vec::<i64>::new();
    for s in spans.iter() {
        // TODO these need to change to u64 when the following issue is fixed:
        // https://github.com/vectordotdev/vector/issues/14687
        let parent_id = match s.get("parent_id") {
            Some(Value::Integer(val)) => *val,
            None => 0,
            _ => panic!("`parent_id` should be an i64"),
        };
        let span_id = match s.get("span_id") {
            Some(Value::Integer(val)) => *val,
            None => 0,
            _ => panic!("`span_id` should be an i64"),
        };
        if trace_id.is_none() {
            trace_id = match s.get("trace_id") {
                Some(Value::Integer(v)) => Some(*v as usize),
                _ => panic!("`trace_id` should be an i64"),
            }
        }
        let weight = s
            .get("metrics")
            .and_then(|m| m.as_object())
            .map(|m| match m.get(SAMPLING_RATE_KEY) {
                Some(Value::Float(v)) => {
                    let sample_rate = v.into_inner();

View on GitHub (pinned to 3708c39b12)

Solutions

1. Keep spans on a native path from source to datadog_traces sink with no serialization round-trips or field rewrites
2. Where spans are constructed programmatically, write parent_id/span_id/trace_id as Value::Integer
3. Upgrade Vector - trace ID typing fixes are tracked upstream; check the changelog
4. Tap the stream (console sink) before the datadog sink to identify which spans carry non-integer IDs, then fix the producer

Example fix

// before
span.insert("parent_id", Value::from("12345")); // string id -> panic

// after: IDs are i64 in the span map
span.insert("parent_id", Value::Integer(12345));

fn ids_ok(span: &ObjectMap) -> bool {
    matches!(span.get("parent_id"), None | Some(Value::Integer(_)))
        && matches!(span.get("span_id"), None | Some(Value::Integer(_)))
        && matches!(span.get("trace_id"), Some(Value::Integer(_))) // first span must carry it
}

fn span_ids_are_i64(span: &ObjectMap) -> bool {
    matches!(span.get("parent_id"), None | Some(Value::Integer(_)))
        && matches!(span.get("span_id"), None | Some(Value::Integer(_)))
}

When it happens

Trigger: A span reaches the sink with 'parent_id' as a non-integer (float/string/bool) - e.g. IDs serialized through JSON as strings, or an OTLP mapping emitting 64-bit IDs as floats; or the first span lacking an integer 'trace_id'. The panic aborts APM stats computation for the batch.

Common situations: Trace pipelines that JSON-serialize/deserialize spans between source and sink (IDs become strings or lose integer precision); custom transforms re-inserting span ids with wrong types; version drift in OTLP ID handling (see vectordotdev/vector#14687 referenced in-code for the u64 follow-up).

Related errors

• `error` should be an i64
• `duration` should be an i64
• Failed type coercion, {self:?} is not a trace event
• Traces are not supported.
• message is required (make sure the "message" semantic meanin

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@3708c39b12 (2026-08-20). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fc69c9cd12bc7edb. Report an issue: GitHub.