windmill-labs/windmill · error

{section} dependency element: missing or invalid `name` fiel

Error message

{section} dependency element: missing or invalid `name` field

What it means

Each roles/collections entry in the requirements YAML must have a `name` field that is a string. update_versions throws this when the entry is a map but lacks `name`, or its `name` value is not a plain string (e.g. an integer, boolean, or nested structure), because the name is required to look up the locked version.

Source

Thrown at backend/parsers/windmill-parser-yaml/src/lib.rs:904

        for el in elements {
            let Yaml::Hash(ref mut h) = el else {
                return Err(anyhow!("{section} dependency element should be a map"));
            };

            if let Some(name) = h
                .get(&Yaml::String("name".to_string()))
                .and_then(|n| n.as_str())
            {
                if let Some(version) = versions.get(name) {
                    h.insert(
                        Yaml::String("version".to_string()),
                        Yaml::String(version.to_string()),
                    );
                } else {
                    logs.push_str(&format!("WARNING: {section} dependency `{name}` has no locked version, using the latest or system installed version.\n"));
                }
            } else {
                return Err(anyhow!(
                    "{section} dependency element: missing or invalid `name` field"
                ));
            }
        }
    }

    Ok(logs)
}

pub fn add_versions_to_requirements_yaml(
    input: &str,
    role_versions: &HashMap<String, String>,
    collection_versions: &HashMap<String, String>,
) -> anyhow::Result<(String, String)> {
    let mut docs =
        YamlLoader::load_from_str(input).map_err(|e| anyhow!("YAML parse error: {}", e))?;
    let doc = &mut docs[0];

View on GitHub (pinned to e474e8803c)

Solutions

1. Add a `name:` key to every entry: `- name: community.postgresql`.
2. Quote the name if it could parse as a number or boolean: `name: "123org.collection"`.
3. Rename legacy `src:` keys to `name:` or restructure for this parser.
4. Ensure the name value is a scalar string, not a nested map/list.

Example fix

# before
collections:
  - version: 3.0.0
# after
collections:
  - name: community.postgresql
    version: 3.0.0

fn validate_names(input: &str) -> Result<(), String> {
    let doc: serde_yaml::Value = serde_yaml::from_str(input).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
    for section in ["roles", "collections"] {
        if let Some(items) = doc.get(section).and_then(|s| s.as_sequence()) {
            for (i, e) in items.iter().enumerate() {
                match e.get("name").map(|n| n.is_string()) {
                    Some(true) => {}
                    _ => return Err(format!("{section}[{i}] needs a string `name` field")),
                }
            }
        }
    }
    Ok(())
}

fn has_string_name(v: &serde_yaml::Value) -> bool {
    v.get("name").map(|n| n.is_string()).unwrap_or(false)
}

match pin_versions(input, &roles, &collections) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("missing or invalid `name`") => {
        eprintln!("Add name: <dep> to every entry; quote numeric-looking names\n{e}");
    }
    other => other,
}

When it happens

Trigger: An entry like `- version: 1.2.3` (version without name), `- src: ...` only, or `- name: 123` where the name is numeric and YAML infers a non-string type.

Common situations: Using the `src` key (legacy git-role format) instead of `name`; copy-pasting collection entries that only carry `version`; numeric-looking collection names (e.g. org names starting with digits) parsed as integers; forgetting the name when hand-editing.

Related errors

• {section} dependency element should be a map
• Files should have a `resource` or `variable` field that will
• {section} dependency should be a map
• Failed to parse yaml: {}
• Invalid inventory definition

AI-assisted analysis of windmill-labs/windmill@e474e8803c (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9ee5cd269d58c1d1. Report an issue: GitHub.