vitessio/vitess · error

unknown workflow type

Error message

unknown workflow type %d

What it means

VReplicationWorkflow.Create only knows how to initialize MoveTables, Migrate, and Reshard workflow types. A VReplicationWorkflow constructed with any other workflowType falls through to the default case and is rejected.

Solutions

1. Use the correct workflow type constant (MoveTablesWorkflow, MigrateWorkflow, ReshardWorkflow) when constructing the VReplicationWorkflow
2. Use the type-specific API for other workflow kinds instead of the generic Create
3. Check the numeric type printed in the error against the wrangler's workflow type constants

Example fix

// before
wf := wr.NewVReplicationWorkflow(ctx, ..., wrangler.MaterializationWorkflow, params)
wf.Create(ctx)
// after (materialize has its own path)
wr.Materialize(ctx, ...)

wf := wr.NewVReplicationWorkflow(ctx, ..., wrangler.MoveTablesWorkflow, params)
wf.Create(ctx)

switch wfType {
case wrangler.MoveTablesWorkflow, wrangler.MigrateWorkflow, wrangler.ReshardWorkflow:
    // supported
default:
    return fmt.Errorf("workflow type %d has no generic Create path", wfType)
}

func creatableViaGenericCreate(t int) bool {
    switch t {
    case int(wrangler.MoveTablesWorkflow), int(wrangler.MigrateWorkflow), int(wrangler.ReshardWorkflow):
        return true
    }
    return false
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Create() on a VReplicationWorkflow whose workflowType is not one of MoveTablesWorkflow, MigrateWorkflow, or ReshardWorkflow (e.g. a type that must be created through a different API).

Common situations: Constructing the generic VReplicationWorkflow wrapper for a workflow type (like LookupVindex or materialization flows) that has its own dedicated creation path.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

• both atomic copy and partial mode cannot be specified for…
• cannot switch traffic for workflow
• checkpoint information not available in db for
• invalid tablet type passed
• invalid tablet type passed

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e1a555c791b6cf07. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at go/vt/wrangler/workflow.go:255

	}
	if vrw.CachedState() != WorkflowStateNotCreated {
		return fmt.Errorf("workflow has already been created, state is %s", vrw.CachedState())
	}
	switch vrw.workflowType {
	case MoveTablesWorkflow, MigrateWorkflow:
		err = vrw.initMoveTables()
	case ReshardWorkflow:
		excludeTables := strings.Split(vrw.params.ExcludeTables, ",")
		keyspace := vrw.params.SourceKeyspace

		vschmErr := vrw.wr.ValidateVSchema(ctx, keyspace, vrw.params.SourceShards, excludeTables, true /*includeViews*/)
		if vschmErr != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("Create ReshardWorkflow failed: %v", vschmErr)
		}

		err = vrw.initReshard()
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("unknown workflow type %d", vrw.workflowType)
	}
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return nil
}

// WorkflowError has per stream errors if present in a workflow
type WorkflowError struct {
	Tablet      string
	ID          int32
	Description string
}

// NewWorkflowError returns a new WorkflowError object
func NewWorkflowError(tablet string, id int32, description string) *WorkflowError {
	wfErr := &WorkflowError{
		Tablet:      tablet,

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