apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Cannot use CREATE TABLE LIKE on an index table '%s.%s'.

Error message

Cannot use CREATE TABLE LIKE on an index table '%s.%s'.

What it means

CREATE TABLE LIKE cannot be used with an index (specifically a legacy secondary-index-backed table) as its source. CopyTableStatement.apply() checks sourceTableMeta.isIndex() after resolving the source and throws this InvalidRequestException, because an index is derived metadata, not a standalone table that can be cloned.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/schema/CopyTableStatement.java:136

        return metadata.directory.commonSerializationVersion.isAtLeast(Version.V5);
    }

    @Override
    public Keyspaces apply(ClusterMetadata metadata)
    {
        Keyspaces schema = metadata.schema.getKeyspaces();
        KeyspaceMetadata sourceKeyspaceMeta = schema.getNullable(sourceKeyspace);

        if (null == sourceKeyspaceMeta)
            throw ire("Source Keyspace '%s' doesn't exist", sourceKeyspace);

        TableMetadata sourceTableMeta = sourceKeyspaceMeta.getTableOrViewNullable(sourceTableName);

        if (null == sourceTableMeta)
            throw ire("Source Table '%s.%s' doesn't exist", sourceKeyspace, sourceTableName);

        if (sourceTableMeta.isIndex())
            throw ire("Cannot use CREATE TABLE LIKE on an index table '%s.%s'.", sourceKeyspace, sourceTableName);

        if (sourceTableMeta.isView())
            throw ire("Cannot use CREATE TABLE LIKE on a materialized view '%s.%s'.", sourceKeyspace, sourceTableName);

        KeyspaceMetadata targetKeyspaceMeta = schema.getNullable(targetKeyspace);
        if (null == targetKeyspaceMeta)
            throw ire("Target Keyspace '%s' doesn't exist", targetKeyspace);

        if (targetKeyspaceMeta.hasTable(targetTableName))
        {
            if (ifNotExists)
                return schema;

            throw new AlreadyExistsException(targetKeyspace, targetTableName);
        }

        if (!sourceKeyspace.equalsIgnoreCase(targetKeyspace))
        {

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

  1. Point LIKE at the base table the index belongs to, then recreate the index on the new table with CREATE INDEX/CREATE CUSTOM INDEX
  2. Filter out index tables when generating CREATE TABLE LIKE statements programmatically
  3. Drop/rename the confusingly named index if it shadows a table name (rare)

Example fix

// before
CREATE TABLE ks2.idx_copy LIKE ks.tab_by_email_idx;

// after
CREATE TABLE ks2.tab_copy LIKE ks.tab;
CREATE INDEX ON ks2.tab_copy (email);
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Skip index-backed tables by joining system_schema.indexes
const rows = await session.execute(
  `SELECT t.table_name FROM system_schema.tables t
   LEFT JOIN system_schema.indexes i
     ON t.keyspace_name=i.keyspace_name AND t.table_name=i.table_name
   WHERE t.keyspace_name=? AND t.table_name=? AND i.index_name IS NULL`,
  [srcKs, srcTable]);
if (rows.rows.length === 0) throw new Error(`${srcKs}.${srcTable} is an index table; use its base table`);

Type guard

null

Try / catch

try {
  session.execute(`CREATE TABLE t2 LIKE ${name}`);
} catch (e) {
  if (/CREATE TABLE LIKE on an index table/.test(e.message)) {
    // resolve base table and recreate the index afterward
  } else throw e;
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: `CREATE TABLE t2 LIKE <ks>.<name>` where <name> resolves to an index table (e.g. the internal table backing a 2i / SAI index).

Common situations: Scripting schema clones by iterating all names in a keyspace (system_schema.tables includes index-backed entries); attempting to copy an index's structure instead of creating an index on the copied table.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5c548e94c69f5c31. Report an issue: GitHub.