Tencent/WeKnora · error

query is empty

Error message

query is empty

What it means

Search validates its input and rejects an empty (after TrimSpace) query string. The provider requires a non-blank query to send to the Exa API, so blank input short-circuits with this error instead of wasting an API call.

Source

Thrown at internal/infrastructure/web_search/exa.go:67

		baseURL:     defaultExaSearchURL,
		apiKey:      apiKey,
		includeText: parseExaBool(params.ExtraConfig, "include_text"),
	}, nil
}

// Name returns the provider type identifier.
func (p *ExaProvider) Name() string { return "exa" }

// Search performs a web search through Exa's official Search API.
func (p *ExaProvider) Search(
	ctx context.Context,
	query string,
	maxResults int,
	includeDate bool,
) ([]*types.WebSearchResult, error) {
	query = strings.TrimSpace(query)
	if query == "" {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("query is empty")
	}
	if maxResults <= 0 {
		maxResults = defaultExaResults
	}
	if maxResults > maxExaResults {
		maxResults = maxExaResults
	}

	bodyBytes, err := json.Marshal(exaSearchRequest{
		Query:      query,
		NumResults: maxResults,
		Contents: exaContents{
			Highlights: true,
			Text:       p.includeText,
		},
	})
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal Exa request: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 988cbb0330)

Solutions

1. Validate/trim the query in the caller before invoking Search and skip the call if empty
2. Return a user-facing 'please enter a search term' message for blank input
3. Check upstream string extraction for bugs that strip content
4. Guard pipeline steps so unset variables do not flow into Search

Example fix

// before
results, err := provider.Search(ctx, userQuery, 10, false)
// after
userQuery = strings.TrimSpace(userQuery)
if userQuery == "" {
    return nil, ErrEmptyQuery
}
results, err := provider.Search(ctx, userQuery, 10, false)

q := strings.TrimSpace(userQuery)
if q == "" {
    return nil, errors.New("search query must not be empty")
}

results, err := provider.Search(ctx, userQuery, 10, false)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "query is empty") {
    return nil, userFacingError("Please enter a search term.")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Search with query "" or a whitespace-only string — e.g. user submitted an empty search box, upstream trimmed/parsed the query away, or a pipeline passed an unset variable.

Common situations: Frontend allowing empty search submissions, string extraction from documents yielding only whitespace, locale/encoding bugs stripping the query, passing an unbound variable from a template.

Related errors

• query is empty
• model ID cannot be empty
• unknown credential field:
• member_limit must be >= 0
• cannot request upgrade to same or lower role

AI-assisted analysis of Tencent/WeKnora@988cbb0330 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4ef8779ac4eb149f. Report an issue: GitHub.