#4512·sqlc

Missing sqlc.arg in SQL UPDATE query with EXISTS subquery

Author: paulkoehlerdevCreated Jul 13, 2026Updated Aug 3, 2026

Labelsbug

Version

1.31.1

What happened?

When running sqlc 1.31.1 with go tool sqlc generate I dont get any error log, but the output does not include the specified parameter. I would expect a timestamp parameter in this example.

Expectation:

// Code generated by sqlc. DO NOT EDIT.
// versions:
//   sqlc v1.31.1
// source: query.sql

package db

import (
	"context"
	"time"
)

const updateEntities = `-- name: UpdateEntities :execrows
UPDATE target_table
SET active = 0
WHERE EXISTS (
  SELECT 1
  FROM source_table s
  WHERE s.updated_at >= ?
)
`

func (q *Queries) UpdateEntities(ctx context.Context, updatedAfter time.Time) (int64, error) {
	result, err := q.db.ExecContext(ctx, updateEntities, updatedAfter)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, err
	}
	return result.RowsAffected()
}

Actual output:

// Code generated by sqlc. DO NOT EDIT.
// versions:
//   sqlc v1.25.0
// source: query.sql

package db

import (
	"context"
)

const updateEntities = `-- name: UpdateEntities :execrows
UPDATE target_table
SET active = 0
WHERE NOT (
    EXISTS (
        SELECT 1
        FROM source_table s
        WHERE s.updated_at >= sqlc.arg(updated_after)
    )
)
`

func (q *Queries) UpdateEntities(ctx context.Context) (int64, error) {
	result, err := q.db.ExecContext(ctx, updateEntities)
	if err != nil {
		return 0, err
	}
	return result.RowsAffected()
}

Relevant log output

bash

-- no output --

Database schema

sql

CREATE TABLE target_table
(
    id     BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
    active BOOLEAN NOT NULL
);

CREATE TABLE source_table
(
    id         BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL
);

SQL queries

sql

-- name: UpdateEntities :execrows
UPDATE target_table
SET active = 0
WHERE NOT (
    EXISTS (
        SELECT 1
        FROM source_table s
        WHERE s.updated_at >= sqlc.arg(updated_after)
    )
);

Configuration

yaml

{
  "version": "2",
  "sql": [{
    "schema": "schema.sql",
    "queries": "query.sql",
    "engine": "mysql",
    "gen": {
      "go": {
        "out": "db"
      }
    }
  }]
}

Playground URL

https://play.sqlc.dev/p/29743a26dc241fe38660c6a2c7d7fb37505e1cecb4251f6f0876a14747efb431

What operating system are you using?

macOS

What database engines are you using?

MySQL

What type of code are you generating?

Edit: Make the problem more clear, by adding expectation/ reality

Source: sqlc-dev/sqlc

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