apache/iceberg · error · NoSuchTableException

NoSuchTableException(ident)

Error message

NoSuchTableException(ident)

What it means

SparkRewriteTableCatalog.loadTable resolves tables only from the in-memory SparkTableCache populated by a rewrite procedure; if the group id is absent from the cache it throws Spark's NoSuchTableException. The catalog intentionally cannot load arbitrary tables.

Solutions

1. Run table access through a normal catalog; the rewrite catalog only works within procedure execution
2. Ensure the identifier corresponds to an active rewrite group id created by the procedure
3. Register the table in SparkTableCache with the same group id if writing framework code

Example fix

// before
val table = spark.sessionState.catalogManager.catalog("prod").asTableCatalog.loadTable(ident) // rewrite catalog
// after
val table = spark.table("prod.db.events") // use the normal Iceberg catalog binding

if (!spark.sessionState.catalogManager.isCatalogRegistered("prod")) ??? // prefer standard catalog for loads

try {
  catalog.loadTable(ident)
} catch {
  case _: NoSuchTableException => loadViaSparkCatalog(ident)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling loadTable(ident) where ident.name() is not a group id currently registered in SparkTableCache, e.g. loading a table by its real name outside an active rewrite procedure.

Common situations: Querying tables through a rewrite catalog binding outside the rewrite procedure's execution; using a stale group id after the procedure finished; misconfigured catalog binding.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Cannot find source table
• Couldn't load table ' ' in catalog
• Couldn't load table ' ' in catalog
• NoSuchTableException(from)
• NoSuchTableException(ident)

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7105802b84b52ee4. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at spark/v4.2/spark/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/spark/SparkRewriteTableCatalog.java:55

  private static final String CLASS_NAME = SparkRewriteTableCatalog.class.getName();
  private static final SparkTableCache TABLE_CACHE = SparkTableCache.get();

  private String name = null;

  @Override
  public Identifier[] listTables(String[] namespace) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(CLASS_NAME + " does not support listing tables");
  }

  @Override
  public SparkRewriteTable loadTable(Identifier ident) throws NoSuchTableException {
    validateNoNamespace(ident);

    String groupId = ident.name();
    Table table = TABLE_CACHE.get(groupId);

    if (table == null) {
      throw new NoSuchTableException(ident);
    }

    return new SparkRewriteTable(table, groupId);
  }

  @Override
  public SparkTable loadTable(Identifier ident, String version) throws NoSuchTableException {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(CLASS_NAME + " does not support time travel");
  }

  @Override
  public SparkTable loadTable(Identifier ident, long timestampMicros) throws NoSuchTableException {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(CLASS_NAME + " does not support time travel");
  }

  @Override
  public void invalidateTable(Identifier ident) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException(CLASS_NAME + " does not support table invalidation");

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)