fastlane supply failed "Google Play API error: invalid request, release notes cannot exceed 500 characters"

TL;DR

Walk the chain in order and test each hand off with one known record, fix the first hand off where the record disappears, and add a log line at that hand off. Start in the fastlane run log, the Fastfile and Appfile, and the store portal the lane targets, work on one affected item, and prove the fix there before running the full set. Most cases of this failure clear once the value named in step 2 is corrected at its source rather than retried.

fastlane supply failed "Google Play API error: invalid request, release notes cannot exceed 500 characters"

Use this when

• You see this exact message or symptom in fastlane: fastlane supply failed Google Play API error: invalid request, release notes cannot exceed 500 characters
• One run, record, build, or object is affected and you can name it
• A retry without changing anything reproduces the same text

Not for this skill when

• fastlane fails with a different message and none of the signals here appear
• Nothing has failed yet and you are doing first time setup or general planning
• Every service from this vendor is down for all users, which is a vendor outage to wait out first

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure once in the fastlane run log, the Fastfile and Appfile, and the store portal the lane targets and search the log or history for the exact text in the block above, recording the time, the workspace or project, and the one object it names. Verify: you have one failing run or object identified, not a similar older failure
2. Inspect the lane and its options, the signing or metadata files the lane reads, and the API credential the lane authenticates with, and check the hand off where the test record stopped, the condition or field it failed, and the log line added there. Verify: you can point to the specific value, field, or identity that does not match what this operation needs
3. Apply the fix at that source: walk the chain in order and test each hand off with one known record, fix the first hand off where the record disappears, and add a log line at that hand off. Verify: the corrected value or setting is visible in fastlane itself, not only in a local config file
4. Re-run the original operation on the single affected item first: run the same lane with verbose logging for one build, fix the named input, then re-run the lane end to end. Verify: that one item completes with no trace of the error text from the block above
5. Check the downstream result a user or the next job would see: the lane finishing and the build or metadata appearing in the portal with the expected version and build number. Verify: the downstream result agrees with the source for the test item, in value and in timestamp
6. Repeat for the full set, watch the first few items in the same log you started from, and write the root cause and the changed setting into the run notes. Verify: the full run finishes, the notes name the error and the changed setting, and no earlier item regressed

Variant phrasings

fastlane supply failed Google Play API error: invalid request, release notes cannot exceed 500 characters

The subject-first phrasing of the same failure. The fix is the same, start at step 1 and confirm the object the log names.

fastlane version of this failure

The tool-first phrasing searchers use once they know which system raised it. It is the same underlying problem, not a separate bug.

Why does fastlane supply failed Google Play API error: invalid request, release notes cannot exceed 500 characters keep happening after a retry

The repeat-occurrence phrasing. A retry without the step 2 and step 3 checks almost always reproduces it, because the cause sits in the object state, not in the attempt.

Compatibility: fastlane 2.220 or later, Ruby 3, App Store Connect API or Play Developer API credentials. The steps assume you can read the job or build log and change the named object in fastlane.

Why it happens

In fastlane, this failure usually means one step in the chain checks a condition or a field that the earlier steps no longer produce, so the chain stops silently at that check. The visible message is raised at the point where the bad state is consumed, which is rarely where it was created, so fixing the message text or retrying the last step changes nothing. Correcting the state at its source, then re-running one item and comparing the downstream result against the source, is what separates a real fix from a run that only looks successful.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_TZcvycdY6SBEUUHfjco-JA