OpenAPITools/openapi-generator · error · RuntimeException

Empty database/table/column name for property '{name}' not a

Error message

Empty database/table/column name for property '{name}' not allowed

What it means

PostgresqlSchemaCodegen sanitizes database/table/column identifiers derived from the spec (removing characters illegal in PostgreSQL identifiers, trimming trailing spaces). Names that become empty after sanitization are fatal: escapePostgresqlIdentifier throws 'Empty database/table/column name ... not allowed' (PostgresqlSchemaCodegen.java:1335). Names that are all digits or end with spaces are only warned about and repaired; total emptiness cannot be repaired.

Source

Thrown at modules/openapi-generator/src/main/java/org/openapitools/codegen/languages/PostgresqlSchemaCodegen.java:1335

     */
    public String toPostgresqlIdentifier(String name, String prefix, String suffix) {
        String escapedName = escapePostgresqlQuotedIdentifier(name);
        // Database, table, and column names cannot end with space characters.
        if (escapedName.matches(".*\\s$")) {
            LOGGER.warn("Database, table, and column names cannot end with space characters. Check '{}' name", name);
            escapedName = escapedName.replaceAll("\\s+$", "");
        }

        // Identifiers may begin with a digit but unless quoted may not consist solely
        // of digits.
        if (escapedName.matches("^\\d+$")) {
            LOGGER.warn("Database, table, and column names cannot consist solely of digits. Check '{}' name", name);
            escapedName = prefix + escapedName + suffix;
        }

        // identifier name cannot be empty
        if (escapedName.isEmpty()) {
            throw new RuntimeException("Empty database/table/column name for property '" + name + "' not allowed");
        }
        return escapedName;
    }

    /**
     * Escapes PostgreSQL identifier to use it in SQL statements without backticks,
     * eg. SELECT identifier FROM
     *
     * @param identifier source identifier
     * @return escaped identifier
     */
    public String escapePostgresqlUnquotedIdentifier(String identifier) {
        // ASCII: [0-9,a-z,A-Z$_] (basic Latin letters, digits 0-9, dollar, underscore)
        // Extended: U+0080 .. U+FFFF
        Pattern regexp = Pattern.compile("[^0-9a-zA-z$_\\u0080-\\uFFFF]");
        Matcher matcher = regexp.matcher(identifier);
        if (matcher.find()) {
            LOGGER.warn("Identifier '{}' contains unsafe characters out of [0-9,a-z,A-Z$_] and U+0080..U+FFFF range",

View on GitHub (pinned to fcec517be3)

Solutions

1. Rename the offending property (its name appears in the message) to a valid identifier.
2. Lint the spec for keys containing no alphanumeric characters before running the generator.
3. Introduce a preprocessing step mapping symbolic names to safe SQL identifiers if the API keys must stay unchanged.

Example fix

# before (api.yaml)
components:
  schemas:
    Event:
      properties:
        "***": { type: string }
# after
components:
  schemas:
    Event:
      properties:
        wildcard: { type: string }

// postgresql: reject keys that sanitize to an empty identifier
Pattern nonWord = Pattern.compile("[^\\w]");
for (var schema : openAPI.getComponents().getSchemas().entrySet()) {
  if (schema.getValue().getProperties() == null) continue;
  for (String key : schema.getValue().getProperties().keySet()) {
    if (nonWord.matcher(key).replaceAll("").isEmpty()) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Property '" + key + "' sanitizes to an empty PostgreSQL identifier");
    }
  }
}

try {
    new DefaultGenerator().opts(clientOptInput).generate();
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    throw new BuildException("PostgreSQL schema generation failed: " + e.getMessage(), e);
}

When it happens

Trigger: A spec property/model/schema key (or postgres vendor-extension name) made entirely of characters sanitization strips — e.g. `###`, `$`, `***`, whitespace-only — reaching escapePostgresqlIdentifier() during postgresql schema generation.

Common situations: Symbolic column headers exported from spreadsheets into OpenAPI; placeholder keys left by refactors; specs authored for display (e.g. using symbols as labels) then reused for DDL generation.

Related errors

• Empty database/table/column name for property '{name}' not a
• Empty database/table/column name for property '{name}' not a
• The BLOB, TEXT, GEOMETRY, and JSON data types cannot be assi
• The BLOB and JSON data types cannot be assigned a default va
• The BLOB, TEXT, GEOMETRY, and JSON data types cannot be assi

AI-assisted analysis of OpenAPITools/openapi-generator@fcec517be3 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7a47f84bc88abc06. Report an issue: GitHub.