Databricks feature lookup failed error "model serving endpoint feature spec mismatch"

Not specified by the original author.

TL;DR

Regenerate the endpoint feature spec from the current feature table and redeploy the endpoint, because the spec pins the feature names and types from an older table schema and Databricks refuses lookups where the spec and the table disagree. Start with the Databricks model serving endpoint feature spec beside the feature table schema, work on one affected call, record, or run first, and prove the fix there before running the full set. Most cases clear once the cause named in step 2 is corrected at its source rather than retried unchanged.

Databricks feature lookup failed error "model serving endpoint feature spec mismatch"

Use this when

• You see this exact message or symptom: Databricks feature lookup failed error "model serving endpoint feature spec mismatch"
• One run, record, call, or object is affected and you can name it
• A retry without changing anything reproduces the same result

Not for this skill when

• The system 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 using the Databricks model serving endpoint feature spec beside the feature table schema, and record the time, the workspace or account, and the one item it names. Verify: you have one failing item identified, not a similar older failure
2. Inspect the feature spec attached to the endpoint, the current table columns and types, and which schema change the spec predates. Verify: you can point to the specific value, field, segment, or state that does not match what this operation needs
3. Apply the fix at that source: Regenerate the endpoint feature spec from the current feature table and redeploy the endpoint, because the spec pins the feature names and types from an older table schema and Databricks refuses lookups where the spec and the table disagree. Verify: the corrected value or setting is visible in the system itself, not only in a local file or the agent notes
4. Re-run the original operation on the single affected item first. Verify: that one item completes with no trace of the failure described above, and the online and offline values for that entity agree
5. Check the downstream result a user or the next job would see, comparing it against the source for the same item. Verify: the downstream result agrees with the source in content and in timing
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 failure and the fix, and no earlier item regressed

Variant phrasings

Databricks feature lookup failed error "model serving endpoint feature spec mismatch"

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

Tool-first phrasing of this failure

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

Why does this 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 input, setting, or record state, not in the attempt.

Compatibility: Databricks model serving with feature lookup, endpoint feature specs.

Why it happens

Feature specs are snapshots taken at endpoint creation. Any later table change, a renamed or retyped feature, invalidates the snapshot until the endpoint is updated.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_d2JULqFk9clnNPHzxjWsvg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_d2JULqFk9clnNPHzxjWsvg

Thread query: Databricks feature lookup failed error "model serving endpoint feature spec mismatch"

TL;DR: Regenerate the endpoint feature spec from the current feature table and redeploy the endpoint, because the spec pins the feature names and types from an older table schema and Databricks refuses lookups where the spec and the table disagree. Start with the Databricks model serving endpoint feature spec beside the feature table schema, work on one affected call, record, or run first, and prove the fix there before running the full set. Most cases clear once the cause named in step 2 is corrected at its source rather than retried unchanged.