[Bug] Can't add search attribute to Workflow run

[bmorton]

What are you really trying to do?

I have a search attribute defined as ObjectID, but when I try to start a Workflow with it, I get a JSON parse error. The other parameters don't seem to impact this. I can start this Workflow programmatically with the SDK fine, so this seems to be isolated to the CLI and how it parses this input.

❯ TEMPORAL_CLI_SHOW_STACKS=1 tctl workflow run --search_attr_key 'ObjectID' --search_attr_value '02fd0862-2c72-4115-a8d6-4efd9fbcdd43' --taskqueue TEST --workflow_type test
Error: Search attribute JSON parse error.
Error Details: invalid character '2' after top-level value
Stack trace:
goroutine 1 [running]:
runtime/debug.Stack()
	runtime/debug/stack.go:24 +0x68
runtime/debug.PrintStack()
	runtime/debug/stack.go:16 +0x20
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.printError({0x105652bd6, 0x22}, {0x1060416f8, 0x140000d8780})
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/util.go:392 +0x1d0
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.ErrorAndExit({0x105652bd6?, 0x24?}, {0x1060416f8?, 0x140000d8780?})
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/util.go:403 +0x2c
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.unmarshalSearchAttrFromCLI(0x1400023d8c0)
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/workflowCommands.go:327 +0x1fc
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.startWorkflowHelper(0x1400023d8c0, 0x1)
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/workflowCommands.go:217 +0x258
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.RunWorkflow(...)
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/workflowCommands.go:178
github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr.newWorkflowCommands.func4(0x140003b82f0?)
	github.com/temporalio/tctl/cli_curr/workflow.go:65 +0x24
github.com/urfave/cli.HandleAction({0x105c00f00?, 0x10603b5b8?}, 0x3?)
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/app.go:526 +0x5c
github.com/urfave/cli.Command.Run({{0x105606568, 0x3}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, 0x0, 0x0}, {0x10569004b, 0x38}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/command.go:173 +0x540
github.com/urfave/cli.(*App).RunAsSubcommand(0x14000836000, 0x1400023d080)
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/app.go:405 +0x6ec
github.com/urfave/cli.Command.startApp({{0x1056109c7, 0x8}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x140003fa8f0, 0x1, 0x1}, {0x105637fda, 0x19}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/command.go:372 +0x698
github.com/urfave/cli.Command.Run({{0x1056109c7, 0x8}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x140003fa8f0, 0x1, 0x1}, {0x105637fda, 0x19}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/command.go:102 +0x698
github.com/urfave/cli.(*App).Run(0x140000d7500, {0x140001b0000, 0xb, 0xb})
	github.com/urfave/[email protected]/app.go:277 +0x620
main.main()
	./main.go:45 +0xc8

Describe the bug

It looks like it expects the value to be JSON, but this is just a string to be used as a keyword. It's possible that I'm formatting it incorrectly, but I'm following the docs at: https://docs.temporal.io/tctl/workflow/run/

Minimal Reproduction

I don't think you need an environment running to reproduce this. This seems to trigger it:

tctl workflow run --search_attr_key 'ObjectID' --search_attr_value '02fd0862-2c72-4115-a8d6-4efd9fbcdd43' --taskqueue TEST --workflow_type test

Environment/Versions

• OS and processor: M1 Mac
• Temporal Version: tctl 1.16.2
• Are you using Docker or Kubernetes or building Temporal from source? Docker

[feedmeapples]

could you try passing as JSON which would be --search_attr_value '\"02fd0862-2c72-4115-a8d6-4efd9fbcdd43\"'

I'll keep the issue open and update the error message so it helps better

[bmorton]

That produces a slightly different error message for me:

❯ tctl workflow run --search_attr_key 'ObjectID' --search_attr_value '\"02fd0862-2c72-4115-a8d6-4efd9fbcdd43\"' --taskqueue TEST --workflow_type test
Error: Search attribute JSON parse error.
Error Details: invalid character '\\' looking for beginning of value
('export TEMPORAL_CLI_SHOW_STACKS=1' to see stack traces)

But just tried this and this works (I'm using zsh if that makes the difference):

tctl workflow run --search_attr_key 'ObjectID' --search_attr_value '"02fd0862-2c72-4115-a8d6-4efd9fbcdd43"' --taskqueue TEST --workflow_type test

Thanks for the reply! I should be good from here, but I'm worried this issue will come up with my team so an updated error message would be greatly appreciated!