No categories provided for categorise text operation. Please

Error message

No categories provided for categorise text operation. Please provide categories.

What it means

Error "No categories provided for categorise text operation. Please provide categories." thrown in Budibase/budibase.

Source

Thrown at packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/utils.ts:44

  contextRows?: Row[]
}

function extractTextFromColumns(row: Row, columns: string[]) {
  return columns.map(column => row[column]).join(" ")
}

function promptForAIOperation(schema: AIFieldMetadata, row: Row) {
  const { operation, column, columns, language, categories, prompt } = schema
  switch (operation) {
    case AIOperationEnum.SUMMARISE_TEXT:
      return ai.summarizeText(extractTextFromColumns(row, columns!))
    case AIOperationEnum.CLEAN_DATA:
      return ai.cleanData(row[column!])
    case AIOperationEnum.TRANSLATE:
      return ai.translate(row[column!], language!)
    case AIOperationEnum.CATEGORISE_TEXT:
      if (!categories) {
        throw new Error(
          "No categories provided for categorise text operation. Please provide categories."
        )
      }
      return ai.classifyText(
        extractTextFromColumns(row, columns!),
        categories.split(",")
      )
    case AIOperationEnum.SENTIMENT_ANALYSIS:
      return ai.sentimentAnalysis(row[column!])
    case AIOperationEnum.PROMPT:
      return new ai.LLMRequest().addUserMessage(prompt!)
    case AIOperationEnum.SEARCH_WEB:
      return ai.searchWeb(extractTextFromColumns(row, columns!))
    default:
      throw new Error(`Unsupported AI operation: ${operation}`)
  }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/server/src/utilities/rowProcessor/utils.ts:44 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e40927adc8af0ee8. Report an issue: GitHub.