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Resource labels

When working with resource labels on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, you might encounter the following issues.

Common issues​

AWS Batch rejects a resource label defined in Nextflow configuration​

Soon after a run starts, it fails with an AWS Batch tag error similar to the following:

Error executing process > 'NFCORE_RNASEQ:RNASEQ:SORTMERNA_INDEX ([])'
Caused by:
  Tags can only contain letters, numbers, spaces, and the following special characters: _ . : / = + - @ (Service: Batch, Status Code: 400)

Seqera Platform validates the resource labels you create in a workspace. Resource labels defined with the Nextflow resourceLabels directive bypass that validation and reach AWS Batch unchanged. AWS documents the allowed characters for Batch tags as letters, numbers, spaces, and _ . : / = + - @. AWS Batch rejects a job submission whose tag value contains any other character, and the run fails.

This affects any resource label whose value comes from a process or workflow property, such as task.tag. Square brackets are a common cause. In a process that declares the Nextflow tag directive as tag "$meta.id", an empty meta input resolves $meta.id to an empty list, and the directive becomes the literal string [].

To resolve, convert each resource label value to a string, replace the disallowed characters, and truncate to the AWS tag value limit of 256 characters. Replace the example keys and values below with your own:

nextflow.config
def sanitizeLabel(value) {
    // The character class is negated: it matches everything AWS Batch disallows
    "${value}".replaceAll(/[^A-Za-z0-9 _.:\/=+@-]/, '_').take(256)
}

process {
    // The closure is evaluated per task, so task and workflow properties resolve at submission
    resourceLabels = { [
        pipelineTag: sanitizeLabel(task.tag),
        pipelineContainer: sanitizeLabel(task.container),
        pipelineRevision: sanitizeLabel(workflow.revision),
        pipelineCommitId: sanitizeLabel(workflow.commitId),
    ] }
}

Converting each value to a string also protects against unset properties. task.tag and task.container are null when the process omits the matching directive, workflow.revision and workflow.commitId are null when the run has no Git revision, and string operations on null fail. A label that comes out as __ or null records an empty or unset property rather than a usable value.

Tags not appearing in cost reports​

Resource labels are applied to your cloud resources but don't appear in your provider's cost reporting tools. This is usually a propagation delay or a cost-reporting configuration gap. To resolve:

  • Allow up to 24 hours for tags to appear in the AWS cost allocation console.
  • For Azure, enable tag inheritance and allow 24 hours for processing.
  • Verify that resources are actively running and generating usage data.

Permission errors​

Tagging fails, or cost data is inaccessible, when the credentials associated with the compute environment lack tagging or billing permissions. To resolve:

  • Ensure the compute environment credentials have the permissions required to tag resources.
  • For Google Cloud, verify billing account administrator access.
  • For Azure, confirm billing profile contributor permissions and permissions to view Cost Management reports.

Missing tag values in cloud provider resources​

Resources launch without the expected tags, or dynamic label values are empty. This usually means the labels aren't attached to the compute environment the workflow ran on. To resolve:

  • Verify that resource labels are applied to the correct compute environment.
  • Check that workflows use the tagged compute environment.
  • For dynamic resource labels, ensure variables use the correct syntax: ${sessionId}, ${userName}, or ${workflowId}.

Costs missing for manually created AWS Batch queues​

Costs for some AWS Batch runs never appear in Cost Explorer or your data exports, even though resource labels are applied. This happens when the compute environment or job queue was created manually, outside of Batch Forge, and so doesn't inherit Seqera's cost-allocation tags. To resolve:

  • Add the relevant cost-allocation tag (for example, project=<value>) to the manually created compute environments, job queues, and related resources in the AWS console.
  • Prefer Batch Forge-created compute environments where possible, so tags propagate automatically.

Cost data missing from the AWS data export​

Resource labels are applied and cost-allocation tags are activated, but split or unblended cost fields are missing or show zero in your data export. To resolve:

  • Confirm that the cost-allocation tag keys are activated in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console of the payer (billing) account.
  • Enable split cost allocation data in your Cost and Usage Report preferences — without it, downstream reporting returns blended-only or zero values.
  • Allow a 24–48 hour delay for cost data to appear, then inspect the export (for example, query the Parquet files with Amazon Athena) to confirm the tag keys and their costs are present.

Resource label tag keys look different in the AWS Cost and Usage Report​

Tag keys or values in the AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) don't match the resource labels you applied, breaking Athena or QuickSight queries. This is expected CUR normalization: in CUR (version 2), colons (:) are rewritten as underscores (_), and mixed- or upper-case characters are lowercased and separated with underscores (for example, costCenter becomes cost_center). To resolve:

  • Design resource-label keys and values that remain unambiguous after normalization.
  • Reference the normalized key names in your downstream Athena or QuickSight queries.
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