What causes "tenant id is not a valid int: %s" in vitessio/vitess?

Pass a plain integer tenant id (e.g. 42) matching the tenant column's INT64 type.

tenant id is not a valid int: %s

Error message

tenant id is not a valid int: %s

What it means

getTenantClause builds a WHERE clause for tenant-filtered queries during multi-tenant MoveTables. If the tenant column is typed INT64, the TenantId from VReplicationOptions must parse as an integer; strconv.Atoi failure triggers this error. It prevents generating an invalid SQL literal (e.g. an unquoted string in an integer comparison).

Source

Thrown at go/vt/vtctl/workflow/utils.go:858

) (*sqlparser.Expr, error) {
	if vrOptions.TenantId == "" {
		return nil, nil
	}
	if targetVSchema == nil || targetVSchema.MultiTenantSpec == nil {
		return nil, errors.New("target keyspace not defined, or it does not have multi-tenant spec")
	}
	tenantColumnName := targetVSchema.MultiTenantSpec.TenantIdColumnName
	tenantColumnType := targetVSchema.MultiTenantSpec.TenantIdColumnType
	if tenantColumnName == "" {
		return nil, errors.New("tenant column name not defined in multi-tenant spec")
	}

	var tenantId string
	switch tenantColumnType {
	case querypb.Type_INT64:
		_, err := strconv.Atoi(vrOptions.TenantId)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("tenant id is not a valid int: %s", vrOptions.TenantId)
		}
		tenantId = vrOptions.TenantId
	case querypb.Type_VARCHAR:
		tenantId = sqltypes.EncodeStringSQL(vrOptions.TenantId)
	default:
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported tenant column type: %s", tenantColumnType)
	}

	stmt, err := parser.Parse(fmt.Sprintf("select * from t where %s = %s", sqlescape.EscapeID(tenantColumnName), tenantId))
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	sel, ok := stmt.(*sqlparser.Select)
	if !ok {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting select: %s", tenantId)
	}
	return &sel.Where.Expr, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 01a25a7d17)

Solutions

Pass a plain integer tenant id (e.g. 42) matching the tenant column's INT64 type.
Strip whitespace, quotes, or extra characters from the tenant id argument.
If tenant ids are genuinely non-numeric, the tenant column should be VARCHAR — verify the column type and use the appropriate value.

Example fix

// before
--source-tenant-id "acme-corp" // tenant column is INT64
// after
--source-tenant-id 42

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if tenantColumnType == querypb.Type_INT64 {
	if _, err := strconv.Atoi(strings.TrimSpace(tenantID)); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("tenant id %q must be an integer for INT64 tenant column", tenantID)
	}
}

Type guard

func isValidIntTenantID(v string) bool { _, err := strconv.Atoi(strings.TrimSpace(v)); return err == nil }

Try / catch

clause, err := getTenantClause(...)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "tenant id is not a valid int") {
		return fmt.Errorf("fix --source-tenant-id: must be a plain integer for this column: %w", err)
	}
	return err
}

Prevention

Confirm the tenant column's type (SHOW CREATE TABLE) before choosing the tenant id format
Trim and quote-strip CLI inputs in wrapper scripts
Validate tenant ids in automation with strconv.Atoi before invoking MoveTables

When it happens

Trigger: Running MoveTables with --source-tenant-id (or equivalent VReplicationOptions.TenantId) whose value is non-numeric while the tenant column in the table is an integer type (INT64).

Common situations: Tenant IDs stored as integers but operator passed an alphanumeric identifier (e.g. 'TENANT-42'); leading/trailing spaces or a comma-separated list passed instead of one integer; copy-paste from config where tenant keys are strings.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8e5fc098f096487c. Report an issue: GitHub.