This page provides an overview of features that are deprecated in Cube. Changes in packaging, and supported (Linux) distributions are not included. To learn about end of support for Linux distributions, refer to the changelog.
As changes are made to Cube, there may be times when existing features need to be removed or replaced with newer features. Before an existing feature is removed it is marked as "deprecated" within the documentation and remains in Cube for at least one stable release unless specified explicitly otherwise. After that time it may be removed.
Users are expected to take note of the list of deprecated features each release and plan their migration away from those features, and (if applicable) towards the replacement features as soon as possible.
The table below provides an overview of the current status of deprecated features:
- Deprecated: the feature is marked "deprecated" and should no longer be used. The feature may be removed, disabled, or change behavior in a future release. The "Deprecated" column contains the release in which the feature was marked deprecated, whereas the "Remove" column contains a tentative release in which the feature is to be removed.
- Removed: the feature was removed, disabled, or hidden. Refer to the linked section for details. Some features are "soft" deprecated, which means that they remain functional for backward compatibility, and to allow users to migrate to alternatives. In such cases, a warning may be printed, and users should not rely on this feature.
| Status | Feature | Deprecated | Removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Removed | Node.js 8 | v0.22.4 | v0.26.0 |
| Removed | hearBeatInterval |
v0.23.8 | June 2021 |
| Removed | CUBEJS_ENABLE_TLS |
v0.23.11 | v0.26.0 |
| Removed | Embedding Cube within Express | v0.24.0 | June 2021 |
| Removed | Absolute import for @cubejs-backend/query-orchestrator |
v0.24.2 | v0.32.0 |
| Removed | contextToDataSourceId |
v0.25.0 | v0.25.0 |
| Removed | Absolute import for @cubejs-backend/server-core |
v0.25.4 | v0.32.0 |
| Removed | Absolute import for @cubejs-backend/schema-compiler |
v0.25.21 | v0.32.0 |
| Removed | checkAuthMiddleware |
v0.26.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 10 | v0.26.0 | v0.29.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 15 | v0.26.0 | v0.32.0 |
| Removed | USER_CONTEXT |
v0.26.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Deprecated | authInfo |
v0.26.0 | |
| Removed | Prefix Redis environment variables with CUBEJS_ |
v0.27.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 12 | v0.29.0 | v0.32.0 |
| Deprecated | CUBEJS_EXTERNAL_DEFAULT and CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_DEFAULT |
v0.30.0 | |
| Deprecated | Using external databases for pre-aggregations | v0.30.0 | |
| Removed | dbType |
v0.30.30 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | Serverless Deployments | v0.31.64 | v0.35.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 14 | v0.32.0 | v0.35.0 |
| Removed | Using Redis for in-memory cache and queue | v0.32.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Deprecated | SECURITY_CONTEXT |
v0.33.0 | |
| Removed | running_total measure type |
v0.33.39 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | Top-level includes parameter in views |
v0.34.34 | v1.3.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 16 | v0.35.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Removed | MySQL-based SQL API | v0.35.0 | v0.35.0 |
| Removed | initApp hook |
v0.35.0 | v0.35.0 |
| Removed | /v1/run-scheduled-refresh REST API endpoint |
v0.35.0 | v0.36.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 18 | v0.36.0 | v1.3.0 |
| Removed | CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_CONCURRENCY |
v1.2.7 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | Node.js 20 | v1.3.0 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | renewQuery parameter of the /v1/load endpoint |
v1.3.73 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | Elasticsearch driver | v1.6.0 | v1.7.0 |
| Removed | context_to_roles |
v1.6.4 | v1.7.0 |
| Deprecated | Node.js 22 | v1.7.0 | |
| Deprecated | Hive driver | v1.7.25 | |
| Removed | NODE_ENV as a development mode switch |
v1.7.44 | v1.7.44 |
Removed in Release: v0.26.0
Node.js 8 reached End of Life on December 31, 2019. This means no more updates. Please upgrade to Node.js 10 or higher.
Deprecated in Release: v0.23.8
This option for @cubejs-client/ws-transport has been
replaced by heartBeatInterval.
Removed in Release: v0.26.0
We no longer recommend setting TLS options via Cube. Developers should set up TLS on a load balancer or reverse proxy instead. Read more here.
Deprecated in Release: v0.24.0
Embedding Cube into Express applications is deprecated due to performance and reliability considerations. Read more about this change here.
Developers are encouraged to migrate to the new cube.js configuration
file and deploy Cube as a microservice (or multiple
microservices, if necessary).
Removed in Release: v0.32.0
Absolute imports are highly dependent on a path, and all API becomes public. We now provide a public API from the package directly.
Deprecated:
const BaseDriver = require("@cubejs-backend/query-orchestrator/driver/BaseDriver");You should use:
const { BaseDriver } = require("@cubejs-backend/query-orchestrator");Removed in Release: v0.25.0
The contextToDataSourceId option in the cube.js configuration file has been
replaced by contextToOrchestratorId. Prior to
this change, multi-tenant setups were forced to share a Query Orchestrator
instance. Now orchestrator instances can be shared by Cube instances and
across different tenants, if need be. Single-tenant setups should consider
removing the contextToDataSourceId property completely.
Removed in Release: v0.32.0
Absolute imports are highly dependent on a path, and all API becomes public. We now provide a public API from the package directly.
Deprecated:
const CubejsServerCore = require("@cubejs-backend/server-core");You should use:
const { CubejsServerCore } = require("@cubejs-backend/server-core");Removed in Release: v0.32.0
Absolute imports are highly dependent on a path, and all API becomes public. We now provide a public API from the package directly.
Deprecated:
const BaseQuery = require("@cubejs-backend/schema-compiler/adapter/BaseQuery");You should use:
const { BaseQuery } = require("@cubejs-backend/schema-compiler");Removed in Release: v0.36.0
The checkAuthMiddleware option was tightly bound to Express,
which has been deprecated. Since Cube
supports HTTP and WebSockets as transports, we want our authentication API
to not rely on transport-specific details. We now recommend using
checkAuth as a transport-agnostic method of authentication.
This means the same authentication logic can be reused for both HTTP and
WebSockets transports.
If you are using custom authorization, please take a look at the documentation
Removed in Release: v0.29.0
Node.js 10 reached End of Life on April 30, 2021. This means no more updates. Please upgrade to Node.js 12 or higher.
Removed in Release: v0.36.0
USER_CONTEXT has been renamed to SECURITY_CONTEXT.
You should use:
cube(`visitors`, {
sql: `select * from visitors WHERE ${SECURITY_CONTEXT.source.filter(
"source"
)}`,
});Deprecated in Release: v0.26.0
The authInfo parameter to checkAuth no longer wraps the decoded JWT under
the u property. It has also been renamed to
securityContext. Additionally, the security context
claims are now populated from the root payload instead of the u property.
Old shape of authInfo:
{
"sub": "1234567890",
"u": { "user_id": 131 }
}New shape of authInfo:
{
"sub": "1234567890",
"user_id": 131
}Deprecated:
const server = new CubejsServer({
checkAuth: async (req, auth) => { // Notice how we're using the `u` property in `jwt.verify()` and assigning the result to `req.authInfo` req.authInfo = jwt.verify({ u: auth }, pem); }, contextToAppId: ({ authInfo }) => `APP_${authInfo.userId}`, preAggregationsSchema: ({ authInfo }) => `pre_aggregations_${authInfo.userId}`,});You should use:
const server = new CubejsServer({
checkAuth: async (req, auth) => { // We're now using directly assigning the result of `jet.verify()` to the `securityContext` property req.securityContext = jwt.verify(auth, pem); }, // And here we're now using the `securityContext` parameter contextToAppId: ({ securityContext }) => `APP_${securityContext.userId}`, // And the same here preAggregationsSchema: ({ securityContext }) => `pre_aggregations_${securityContext.userId}`,});Removed in Release: v0.36.0
Removed in Release: v0.29.0
Removed in Release: v0.32.0
Deprecated in Release: v0.29.0
Cube no longer supports using databases such as MySQL and Postgres as external databases. Please switch to using Cube Store as it is a more robust and reliable solution.
Deprecated in Release: v0.30.0
The CUBEJS_EXTERNAL_DEFAULT and CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_DEFAULT environment
variables are now marked as deprecated; they were introduced to smooth the
migration to Cube Store and are no longer necessary.
Deprecated in Release: v0.30.0
Using external databases for pre-aggregations is now deprecated, and we strongly recommend using Cube Store as a solution.
Deprecated in Release: v0.30.30
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
dbType has been removed. Passing CreateOptions.dbType now throws an error.
Use [driverFactory][self-driver-factory] to return a DriverConfig object
({ type, ... }) instead, or set the CUBEJS_DB_TYPE environment variable.
Removed in Release: v0.35.0
Using Serverless deployments with the @cubejs-backend/serverless package is
now deprecated; we strongly recommend using Docker-based deployments
instead.
Removed in Release: v0.35.0
Removed in Release: v0.36.0
Cube Store is now the default cache and queue engine, replacing Redis. Please migrate to Cube Store.
Deprecated in Release: v0.33.0
The SECURITY_CONTEXT context variable is deprecated. Use
query_rewrite
instead.
Deprecated in Release: v0.33.39
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
The running_total measure type has been removed. Use a
rolling_window
with an unbounded trailing window to calculate running totals instead.
Removed in Release: v1.3.0
The top-level includes parameter is now removed. Please always use the
includes parameter within cubes and join_path
parameters so you can
explicitly control the join path.
Removed in Release: v0.36.0
Removed in release: v0.35.0
Early prototype of the MySQL-based SQL API is removed in favor of the Postgres-compatible
SQL API, together with the
CUBEJS_SQL_PORT environment variable.
Removed in release: v0.35.0
The initApp hook is removed as it's not relevant anymore for Docker-based architecture.
Removed in release: v0.36.0
The /v1/run-scheduled-refresh REST API endpoint is deprecated as it's not
relevant anymore for Docker-based architecture. Use the Orchestration
API and
/v1/pre-aggregations/jobs endpoint instead.
Deprecated in Release: v0.36.0
Node.js 18 reaches End of Life on April 30, 2025. This means no more updates. Please upgrade to Node.js 20 or higher.
Deprecated in Release: v1.2.7
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
This environment variable was renamed to CUBEJS_SCHEDULED_REFRESH_QUERIES_PER_APP_ID. Please use the new name.
Removed in Release: v1.3.0
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
Node.js 20 reached End of Life on April 30, 2026. This means no more updates. Please upgrade to Node.js 22 or higher.
Deprecated in Release: v1.3.73
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
This parameter has been removed. See cache control
options and use the cache parameter of the /v1/load endpoint instead.
Deprecated in Release: v1.6.0
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
The Elasticsearch driver has been removed.
Deprecated in Release: v1.6.4
Removed in Release: v1.7.0
The context_to_roles configuration option has been removed. Please use context_to_groups instead.
Deprecated in Release: v1.7.0
Node.js 22 is in maintenance mode from October 21, 2025. This means no more new features, only security updates. Please upgrade to Node.js 24 or higher.
Deprecated in Release: v1.7.25
The Hive / SparkSQL driver (@cubejs-backend/hive-driver) is deprecated and will be
removed in a future release. It is community-supported and is not maintained by Cube or
the database vendor. There is no drop-in replacement; @cubejs-backend/jdbc-driver
ships Hive/SparkSQL connection settings that can be used through a custom
driverFactory.
Deprecated in Release: v1.7.44
Removed in Release: v1.7.44
Development mode used to be on whenever NODE_ENV was anything but production,
which put an instance with no NODE_ENV set at all into development mode — an
authentication bypass — without anyone asking for it. NODE_ENV is no longer taken
into account: development mode is off by default and is enabled by
CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true,
or by the devServer option when embedding @cubejs-backend/server-core directly.
Cube prints a warning when it sees a non-production NODE_ENV with CUBEJS_DEV_MODE
unset. If you relied on NODE_ENV to get development mode, set CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true
instead. The dev server commands — cubejs dev-server and the cubejs-dev-server bin —
keep the behaviour they had: they ask for development mode directly, without
CUBEJS_DEV_MODE, so the SQL API keeps the generated password it has always had there.
An explicit CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=false now wins over them, so either command starts a
non-development server and requires CUBEJS_DB_TYPE or a driverFactory like
cubejs server does.
An instance that was implicitly in development mode also changes the pre-aggregation
schema it writes to, from dev_pre_aggregations to prod_pre_aggregations, unless
CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_SCHEMA
pins it. Every pre-aggregation is rebuilt in the new schema on first use, and the
tables left behind in dev_pre_aggregations are no longer tracked by the refresh
worker, so nothing drops them for you — remove them by hand once the rebuild has
finished. To keep the old schema instead, either set CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true (if the
instance really was meant to be a dev server) or set
CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_SCHEMA=dev_pre_aggregations explicitly.
Log output changes format with it. Development mode selects the human-readable logger;
outside it Cube emits one structured JSON object per line, on both the Node and the SQL
API side. An instance that was implicitly in development mode therefore switches to JSON
on upgrade, so anything that greps or line-parses Cube's stdout stops matching. Set
CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true if the instance was meant to be a dev server, or update whatever
parses the text format.
The bundled Cube Store goes with it. Development mode is what defaults the external
database to Cube Store and starts the bundled instance; outside it, Cube Store has to
be configured explicitly. An instance that was implicitly in development mode and has
no CUBEJS_CUBESTORE_* or CUBEJS_EXT_DB_* variables set therefore has no external
database after the upgrade, and building a pre-aggregation fails with
externalDriverFactory is not provided. Configure a
Cube Store connection for such
an instance, or set CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true if it was meant to be a dev server.
CreateOptions.devServer is now what decides development mode for code that embeds
@cubejs-backend/server-core directly, and this can switch authentication off where
it used to be on. An embedder that passed devServer: true under NODE_ENV=production
with CUBEJS_DEV_MODE unset used to mount the Playground routes while the data APIs
stayed in production mode: JWT verification was enforced on the REST (JSON) and GraphQL
APIs, the SQL API generated a password, log redaction was on, and pre-aggregations went
to prod_pre_aggregations. Development mode now follows the option, so the same code
serves those APIs with no token required, returns GraphiQL, stack traces and the
transformed query to unauthenticated callers, stops redacting logs, and writes to
dev_pre_aggregations. Nothing in the environment has to change for this to happen, and
no warning is printed. If you passed devServer: true only to get the Playground on an
otherwise production instance, stop passing it — or accept that the instance is now an
authentication bypass
and keep it off the network.
A driver cannot see CreateOptions.devServer, so Cube now writes the pre-aggregation
schema it resolved into CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_SCHEMA when you have not set the
variable yourself. This keeps drivers that read it in step with the rest of the instance
whichever way devServer points — on Databricks with a catalog configured, a
disagreement would leave the catalog prefix off the statement and queries failing with
TABLE_OR_VIEW_NOT_FOUND, while dropTable qualifies unconditionally and drops from
the other catalog. An explicit CUBEJS_PRE_AGGREGATIONS_SCHEMA is never overwritten,
and the value Cube writes is the one that instance uses, preAggregationsSchema from
CreateOptions included. A per-tenant preAggregationsSchema function has no single
schema to write, so it is left alone and such a driver still resolves its own.
Authentication can also flip without the devServer option. An embedder that set
CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true alongside an explicit
NODE_ENV=production used to get Playground with JWT verification
still enforced on the REST (JSON) and GraphQL APIs, because enforcement keyed on
NODE_ENV rather than on development mode. It now follows development mode, so those
APIs accept requests with no token. Drop CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true if the instance was not
meant to be a dev server. cubejs server, cubejs dev-server and the official Docker
images are unaffected: they sync NODE_ENV to development whenever development mode
resolves true, so that contradictory pair never reached them. The cubejs-dev-server
bin does not sync it, so that pair does reach an instance started that way.
The mirror case loses Cube Store instead. An embedder that passed devServer: false
with CUBEJS_DEV_MODE=true used to be in development mode anyway, so it got
externalDbType: 'cubestore' and the bundled Cube Store. It is now out of development
mode, gets neither, and the first pre-aggregation build fails with
externalDriverFactory is not provided; its pre-aggregations also move from
dev_pre_aggregations to prod_pre_aggregations. Drop the devServer: false, or
configure a Cube Store connection
as the paragraphs above describe.
The SQL API does not follow devServer: false. It keys off CUBEJS_DEV_MODE
alone, so with that pair the Postgres-wire endpoint still comes up on port 15432 and
still accepts any credentials, while the REST (JSON) and GraphQL APIs now enforce JWT.
Before this change the whole instance was in development mode and the open SQL API
matched an equally open HTTP API; now the instance presents as authenticated while that
port is not. Set
CUBEJS_SQL_PASSWORD,
or CUBEJS_PG_SQL_PORT=false to not serve it at all.