gitlab-exporter panics on GitLab <17

[ankobyshev]

gitlab-exporter panics on GitLab <17 because Project.updatedAt is queried but not present in GraphQL schema.

GitLab 16.11 ProjectType has createdAt/lastActivityAt but no updatedAt.
Exporter logs gqlerror and then panics with nil pointer dereference.

Expected:

• fail cleanly without panic
• document minimum GitLab version, or
• support fallback for GitLab 16.x

Log:

time=2026-05-15T07:45:07.425Z level=DEBUG msg="[CATCHUP] Processing projects..." iteration=1 after=2026-05-14T07:45:07Z before=2026-05-15T07:45:07Z
time=2026-05-15T07:45:07.500Z level=ERROR msg=gqlerror query=getProjects ids=[gid://gitlab/Project/225] error[0].path="fragment ProjectFieldsCore.updatedAt" error[0].message="Field 'updatedAt' doesn't exist on type 'Project'"
panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x1 addr=0x8 pc=0xac099a]

goroutine 7 [running]:
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql.(*Client).ListProjects(0xc000393d40, {0xffbf20, 0xc000397400}, {0xc00041c110, 0x1, 0x1}, 0xc00059c0f0, 0xc00059c108, 0xc0002b9600)
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql/projects.go:101 +0x1da
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql.(*Client).GetProjects(0x0?, {0xffbf20?, 0xc000397400?}, {0xc00041c110?, 0x0?, 0x0?}, 0x20?, 0x0?)
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql/projects.go:138 +0x59
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).getUpdatedProjects(0xc000428000, {0xffbf20, 0xc000397400}, {0xc0003a4200, 0x1, 0x1?}, 0xc00059c0f0, 0xc00059c108, 0x1)
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:509 +0x245
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).process(0xc000428000, {0xffbf20, 0xc000397400}, {0xc0003a4200?, 0xafb93d?, 0xc0004280a8?}, 0xc00059c0f0, 0xc00059c108, 0x0?)
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:417 +0x88
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).CatchUp.func2()
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:395 +0xb4
created by go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).CatchUp in goroutine 6
	/builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:392 +0x4d3

[cluttrdev]

Hi @ankobyshev, thanks for letting me know. I'll fix this.

[cluttrdev]

@ankobyshev this should be fixed in v0.25.1.

Do let me know if something else is not working for you. Always happy about feedback from other users 👍

[ankobyshev]

I ran everything via the docker-compose demo project. I changed the image to registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter:v0.25.1. Just in case, I removed all volumes. But it still crashes with an error. Now it’s a different one, though:

time=2026-05-18T03:10:06.154Z level=DEBUG msg="[CATCHUP] Processing projects..." iteration=1 after=2026-05-17T03:10:06Z before=2026-05-18T03:10:06Z
time=2026-05-18T03:10:07.229Z level=ERROR msg=gqlerror query=getProjects ids=[gid://gitlab/Project/225] error[0].path="query getProjects.projects.nodes.updatedAt" error[0].message="Field 'updatedAt' doesn't exist on type 'Project'" error[1].path="query getProjects" error[1].message="Variable $_updatedAt is declared by getProjects but not used"
panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x1 addr=0x8 pc=0xac0a99]

goroutine 65 [running]:
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql.(*Client).ListProjects(0xc00029e100, {0xffd320, 0xc0003982d0}, {0xc0003dcc30, 0x1, 0x1}, 0xc0003b4cc0, 0xc0003b4cd8, 0xc00054d600)
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql/projects.go:110 +0x1f9
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql.(*Client).GetProjects(0x0?, {0xffd320?, 0xc0003982d0?}, {0xc0003dcc30?, 0x0?, 0x0?}, 0x20?, 0x0?)
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/gitlab/graphql/projects.go:147 +0x59
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).getUpdatedProjects(0xc0003d6000, {0xffd320, 0xc0003982d0}, {0xc0001a2900, 0x1, 0x1?}, 0xc0003b4cc0, 0xc0003b4cd8, 0x1)
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:509 +0x245
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).process(0xc0003d6000, {0xffd320, 0xc0003982d0}, {0xc0001a2900?, 0x0?, 0x0?}, 0xc0003b4cc0, 0xc0003b4cd8, 0x0?)
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:417 +0x88
go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).CatchUp.func2()
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:395 +0xb4
created by go.cluttr.dev/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks.(*Controller).CatchUp in goroutine 64
  /builds/gitlab-exporter/gitlab-exporter/exporter/internal/tasks/controller.go:392 +0x4d3

[cluttrdev]

Okay, on it. I'll set up a gitlab instance and try to reproduce this. Can you tell me the exact version you're using?

[ankobyshev]

Thank you! I'm using gitlab 15.11

[cluttrdev]

Alright, think I found the issue. It was a misunderstanding on my part about how GraphQL directives are evaluated.
I basically used @include(if: version >= 17) for the updatedAt field. But this directive affects execution not validation. So if the field does not exist in the schema of a GitLab version, validation fails regardless.
Fix coming today.

[cluttrdev]

Good and bad news. I fixed the updatedAt field inclusion (and null pointer deref).
However, as somewhat expected, there are more fields on other types that were only added in newer versions. The oldest version I could find that seems to have all currently configured fields is 17.7.0.
I'll see if I can make earlier versions work, but that will take a bit longer. Sorry for the inconvenience.