vitessio/vitess · error

action requires only one of %v or %v-file

Error message

action requires only one of %v or %v-file

What it means

getFileParam resolves a value that may be supplied either inline via a flag or via a file flag. If BOTH the inline flag and the -file flag are set, it refuses with this error since only one source is allowed.

Source

Thrown at go/vt/vtctl/vtctl.go:814

		keyspace = "<null>"
	}
	if shard == "" {
		shard = "<null>"
	}
	mtst := "<null>"
	// special case for old primary that hasn't updated topo yet
	if ti.PrimaryTermStartTime != nil && ti.PrimaryTermStartTime.Seconds > 0 {
		mtst = protoutil.TimeFromProto(ti.PrimaryTermStartTime).UTC().Format(time.RFC3339)
	}
	return fmt.Sprintf("%v %v %v %v %v %v %v %v", topoproto.TabletAliasString(ti.Alias), keyspace, shard, topoproto.TabletTypeLString(ti.Type), ti.Addr(), ti.MysqlAddr(), fmtMapAwkable(ti.Tags), mtst)
}

// getFileParam returns a string containing either flag is not "",
// or the content of the file named flagFile
func getFileParam(flag, flagFile, name string) (string, error) {
	if flag != "" {
		if flagFile != "" {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("action requires only one of %v or %v-file", name, name)
		}
		return flag, nil
	}

	if flagFile == "" {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("action requires one of %v or %v-file", name, name)
	}
	data, err := os.ReadFile(flagFile)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("cannot read file %v: %v", flagFile, err)
	}
	return string(data), nil
}

// keyspaceParamsToKeyspaces builds a list of keyspaces.
// It supports topology-based wildcards, and plain wildcards.
// For instance:
// us*                             // using plain matching

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a25a7d17)

Solutions

1. Remove either the inline flag or the -file flag so exactly one is provided.
2. If automation sets both, prefer the -file flag and blank the inline one (or vice versa).
3. Audit the wrapper script for unconditional flag defaults that collide with user-supplied file flags.

Example fix

// before
ApplySchema --sql "ALTER TABLE t ADD COLUMN c INT" --sql-file schema.sql commerce
// after
ApplySchema --sql-file schema.sql commerce

if sqlFlag && sqlFileFlag {
  panic("ApplySchema: provide only one of --sql or --sql-file")
}

null

try {
  run("vtctlclient ApplySchema --sql ... --sql-file ... commerce")
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e).includes("requires only one of")) {
    console.error("Drop either the inline flag or the -file flag and retry")
  } else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ApplySchema (or similar commands using getFileParam, e.g. for the `sql` parameter) with both e.g. `--sql "..."` and `--sql-file schema.sql` set at the same time.

Common situations: Script/template assembling a command line where the inline value is a default and a file path was appended; combining legacy and new flags in automation; copy-pasted command lines accumulating flags.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

• action requires one of %v or %v-file
• --enable and --disable are mutually exclusive
• cannot read file %v: %v
• the <cell> argument is required for the UpdateCellInfo comma
• the <cell> argument is required for the DeleteCellInfo comma

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/36cc78a0640708db. Report an issue: GitHub.