windmill-labs/windmill · error

Cannot parse '{s}' as oid: {e}

Error message

Cannot parse '{s}' as oid: {e}

What it means

convert_val converts a JSON string argument into a tokio-postgres ToSql parameter. When the declared arg type is oid, it parses the string with u32::from_str and wraps any ParseIntError as 'Cannot parse ... as oid'. It exists to build a valid OID (unsigned 32-bit) parameter client-side.

Source

Thrown at backend/windmill-worker/src/pg_executor.rs:1659

        Value::String(s) if arg_t == "numeric" || arg_t == "decimal" => s
            .parse::<Decimal>()
            .map(|d| (Box::new(d) as Box<dyn ToSql + Sync + Send>, Type::NUMERIC))
            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Cannot parse '{s}' as numeric: {e}").into()),
        Value::String(s) if arg_t == "real" || arg_t == "float4" => s
            .parse::<f32>()
            .map(|n| (Box::new(n) as Box<dyn ToSql + Sync + Send>, Type::FLOAT4))
            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Cannot parse '{s}' as real: {e}").into()),
        Value::String(s)
            if arg_t == "double" || arg_t == "double precision" || arg_t == "float8" =>
        {
            s.parse::<f64>()
                .map(|n| (Box::new(n) as Box<dyn ToSql + Sync + Send>, Type::FLOAT8))
                .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Cannot parse '{s}' as double: {e}").into())
        }
        Value::String(s) if arg_t == "oid" => s
            .parse::<u32>()
            .map(|n| (Box::new(n) as Box<dyn ToSql + Sync + Send>, Type::OID))
            .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("Cannot parse '{s}' as oid: {e}").into()),
        Value::String(s) if arg_t == "bool" || arg_t == "boolean" => {
            // Accept the same literals Postgres' boolin() does.
            let b = match s.to_ascii_lowercase().as_str() {
                "true" | "t" | "yes" | "y" | "1" | "on" => true,
                "false" | "f" | "no" | "n" | "0" | "off" => false,
                _ => {
                    return Err(
                        anyhow::anyhow!("Cannot parse '{s}' as bool: invalid literal").into(),
                    )
                }
            };
            Ok((Box::new(b), Type::BOOL))
        }
        Value::String(s) if arg_t == "varchar" || arg_t == "character varying" => {
            Ok((Box::new(s.clone()), Type::VARCHAR))
        }
        // For arg_t in (json, jsonb): bind a JSON-encodable Value with the
        // matching pg type. Falling through to TEXT here would assert TEXT

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

  1. Ensure the value is a non-negative integer that fits in u32 (0..=4294967295)
  2. Resolve object names to numeric OIDs in the query itself (e.g. `SELECT 'my_table'::regclass::oid`) instead of passing names as oid args
  3. If the value can be negative or larger, the type is wrong — use int8 or numeric
  4. Trim the string before passing to remove stray whitespace

Example fix

// before
args: { table_oid: "users" }  // object name, not a numeric OID
// after
-- query uses: WHERE oid = 'users'::regclass::oid
args: { table_oid: "16584" }
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function assertOid(s) {
  const raw = typeof s === "string" ? s.trim() : s;
  const n = Number(raw);
  if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n < 0 || n > 4294967295) {
    throw new Error(`value ${JSON.stringify(s)} is not a valid OID (u32)`);
  }
}

Type guard

const isOid = (v) => Number.isInteger(Number(v)) && Number(v) >= 0 && Number(v) <= 4294967295;

Try / catch

try {
  await runPgStep(args);
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes("as oid")) {
    throw new Error(`Argument must be a numeric OID in [0, 4294967295], got: ${e.message}`);
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: A step argument typed oid receives a Value::String that is not a valid u32: negative numbers, values above 4294967295, non-numeric text, or whitespace-padded strings.

Common situations: Passing a PG object name (e.g. 'regclass' style names) where a numeric OID is expected; signed integers copied from a query result; using a full function signature string instead of its OID number.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7ba1c2e239a76fc8. Report an issue: GitHub.