windmill-labs/windmill · error

Sanitized raw string `{}` needs to receive a string

Error message

Sanitized raw string `{}` needs to receive a string

What it means

Windmill's unsafe SQL interpolation (`sanitize_and_interpolate_unsafe_sql_args`) lets scripts declare `%%name%%` placeholders typed as `sanitized_raw_string` (or `sanitized_enum`). At execution the worker looks up that argument in the job's args and requires it to be a JSON string. This error is thrown when the argument is missing entirely from the args map, or is present but not a string (number, bool, object, null), so there is nothing to sanitize and substitute.

Source

Thrown at backend/windmill-worker/src/sanitized_sql_params.rs:110

                            variants
                                .iter()
                                .map(|s| format!("{s}"))
                                .collect::<Vec<String>>()
                                .join(","),
                            replace,
                        )));
                    }

                    sanitize_identifier(&arg, replace)?;
                    ret = ret.replace(&pattern, replace);
                    args_to_skip.push(arg.name.to_string());
                }
                SANITIZED_RAW_STRING_STR => {
                    let replace =
                        args_map
                            .get(&arg.name)
                            .and_then(|rv| rv.as_str())
                            .ok_or(anyhow!(
                                "Sanitized raw string `{}` needs to receive a string",
                                arg.name
                            ))?;
                    let windmill_parser::Typ::Str(_) = &arg.typ else {
                        return Err(error::Error::ArgumentErr(format!(
                            "Wrong type of argument for sanitized raw string `{}`",
                            arg.name
                        )));
                    };
                    sanitize_identifier(&arg, replace)?;
                    ret = ret.replace(&pattern, &replace);
                    args_to_skip.push(arg.name.to_string());
                }
                _ => continue,
            }
        }
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Supply the missing argument as a JSON string in the job input (or fix the caller to always pass it)
2. If the value may be absent, make the placeholder optional in the script's argument signature or remove the sanitized_raw_string typing
3. Convert non-string values (numbers, enums) to strings before submitting the job
4. Check the flow/schedule definition for a renamed argument — placeholder name and arg name must match exactly

Example fix

// before: job input
{ "table": 42 }
// after
{ "table": "customers" }

// before submitting the job
const arg = jobArgs["table"];
if (typeof arg !== "string") {
  throw new Error(`sanitized_raw_string arg 'table' must be a string, got ${typeof arg}`);
}

function isSanitizedRawStringArg(v) { return typeof v === "string" && v.length > 0; }

When it happens

Trigger: Running a BigQuery/DuckDB/MSSQL/MySQL/Oracle/PostgreSQL script whose SQL text contains a `sanitized_raw_string` argument placeholder, but the caller does not supply that argument (e.g. a flow step or schedule omits it), or supplies a non-string value (integer, boolean, null, object) for it.

Common situations: Schedules or flows created before the argument was added, API/CLI calls with a partial payload, form/app inputs left empty producing null, or a caller passing a numeric value where the script author declared a raw string placeholder.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• result.substring(__RESULT_ERR_PREFIX.length)
• path and hash_ are mutually exclusive
• path or hash_ must be provided
• file path must refer to a file.
• file path must refer to a file.

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0ad06dbd8dd99505. Report an issue: GitHub.