vitessio/vitess · error

no symbol found with name

Error message

no symbol found with name %s

What it means

extractSourceInterface looks up the interface name given on the codegen command line in the loaded package's type scope. This error means no top-level symbol with that exact name exists in the package, so the generator cannot find the source interface to mirror.

Solutions

1. Check the name argument for typos and correct casing — Go scope lookup is case-sensitive
2. Confirm the interface is declared at package level in the package passed to loadPackage
3. Use grep/IDE to find the exact identifier in the target package
4. Update the codegen script/Makefile target to the current interface name after a rename

Example fix

// before
$ codegen --source-interface VtctldServ
// no symbol found with name VtctldServ
// after
$ codegen --source-interface VtctldServer

// Verify the interface exists before invoking codegen
if !strings.Contains(source, "type "+ifaceName+" interface {") {
    return fmt.Errorf("interface %s not declared in package", ifaceName)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a name (e.g. 'VtctldServer' or a service interface name) that is misspelled, or that does not exist as a package-level identifier in the package loaded by loadPackage.

Common situations: Renaming/refactoring the interface and forgetting to update the codegen invocation; passing a method name instead of the interface name; passing a lowercase (unexported or local) symbol that the scope lookup cannot resolve as expected; running codegen against the wrong package path.

Related errors

• error getting in
• symbol was not an interface but %T
• bad literal argument
• [BUG] tried to replace 'ASTType' on 'ValueContainer'
• errors loading package

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/356585b2d60cd7ea. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at go/vt/vtctl/vtctldclient/codegen/main.go:327

		for _, e := range pkg.Errors {
			switch err {
			case nil:
				err = fmt.Errorf("errors loading package %s: %s", source, e.Error())
			default:
				err = fmt.Errorf("%w; %s", err, e.Error())
			}
		}

		return nil, err
	}

	return pkg, nil
}

func extractSourceInterface(pkg *packages.Package, name string) (*types.Interface, error) {
	obj := pkg.Types.Scope().Lookup(name)
	if obj == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no symbol found with name %s", name)
	}

	switch t := obj.Type().(type) {
	case *types.Named:
		iface, ok := t.Underlying().(*types.Interface)
		if !ok {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("symbol %s was not an interface but %T", name, t.Underlying())
		}

		return iface, nil
	case *types.Interface:
		return t, nil
	}

	return nil, fmt.Errorf("symbol %s was not an interface but %T", name, obj.Type())
}

var vitessProtoRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`^vitess\.io.*/proto/.*`)

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