weaviate/weaviate · error

%q: hashtree level %d returned %d digests, expected %d

Error message

%q: hashtree level %d returned %d digests, expected %d

What it means

Thrown after a successful remote HashTreeLevel RPC when the remote node returned a different number of digests than the discriminant requested. This indicates the target replica's hashtree disagrees about level width — usually a height/capacity mismatch between source and target shards.

Source

Thrown at usecases/replica/finder.go:417

			digests = hashtree.SizeDigests(digests, need)

			n, err := ht.Level(l, discriminant, digests)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%q: %w", targetNodeAddress, err)
			}
			// a short local write would leave stale digests from a previous level or target
			if n != need {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%q: local hashtree level %d wrote %d digests, expected %d",
					targetNodeAddress, l, n, need)
			}

			levelDigests, err := f.client.HashTreeLevel(ctx, targetNodeAddress, f.class, shardName, l, discriminant)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%q: %w", targetNodeAddress, err)
			}
			// anything but one digest per set bit reads as a failed target, never as convergence
			if len(levelDigests) != need {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%q: hashtree level %d returned %d digests, expected %d",
					targetNodeAddress, l, len(levelDigests), need)
			}

			nextDiscriminant, levelDiffCount, err := hashtree.LevelDiff(l, height, discriminant, digests, levelDigests)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%q: %w", targetNodeAddress, err)
			}

			if l == height {
				leaf = discriminant
				break
			}
			if levelDiffCount == 0 {
				break
			}
			discriminant = nextDiscriminant
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 75aa4b6d11)

Solutions

1. Verify both replicas run compatible versions and identical shard capacity settings
2. Check whether the target shard was recreated/resized while differencing was in progress
3. Retry the operation once the cluster is quiescent

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at usecases/replica/finder.go:417 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of weaviate/weaviate@75aa4b6d11 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a976c6d3f9b03242. Report an issue: GitHub.